IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-S) 


1.0 


1.1 


1^12^    125 

■^  Ui2    ■2.2 

ui    Hi 

1*0    12.0 


Ui 


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1 

1:25     m     1    1.6 

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Hiotographic 

Sdences 

Coiporation 


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33  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  I4SS0 

(716)872-4503 


V"- 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Tachnical  and  Bibliographic  Notas/Notaa  tachniquaa  at  bibiiographiquaa 


Tha  Inatituta  haa  attamptad  to  obtain  tha  baat 
original  copy  availabia  for  filming.  Paaturaa  of  thia 
copy  whicli  may  ba  bibliographically  uniqua. 
which  may  altar  any  of  tha  imagaa  in  tha 
raproduction.  or  which  may  significantly  changa 
tha  uaual  mathod  of  filming,  ara  chaclcad  balow. 


□    Colourad  covara/ 
Couvartura  da  coulaur 


r~n   Covara  damagad/ 


D 


D 

D 


D 


0 


Couvartura  andommagAa 


Covara  raatorad  and/or  laminatad/ 
Couvartura  raataurte  at/ou  paliiculte 


I     I   Covar  titia  miasing/ 


La  titra  da  couvartura  manqua 

Colourad  mapa/ 

Cartaa  gtegraphiquas  an  coulaur 

Colourad  ink  (i.a.  othar  than  blua  or  black)/ 
Encra  da  coulaur  (i.a.  autra  qua  blaua  ou  noira) 


r~n   Colourad  plataa  and/or  illuatrations/ 


Planchaa  at/ou  illustrationa  an  coulaur 

Bound  with  othar  matarial/ 
Rail*  avac  d'autraa  documants 

Tight  binding  may  causa  shadows  or  distortion 
along  intarior  margin/ 

La  rm  liura  sarria  paut  cauaar  da  I'ombra  ou  da  la 
distoraion  la  long  da  la  marge  intiriaure 

Blank  iaavas  addad  during  rastoratlon  may 
appaar  within  tha  taxt.  Whanavar  possibla.  thasa 
hava  baan  omittad  from  filming/ 
II  aa  paut  qua  cartainaa  pagaa  blanchaa  ajoutiaa 
lora  d'una  raatauration  apparaiaaant  dans  la  taxta. 
maia.  lorsqua  cala  itait  poaaibia,  caa  pagas  n'ont 
paa  itt  filmiaa. 


Additional  commants:/ 
Commantairaa  supplimantairas; 


Various  pagings. 


L'Institut  a  micrcfilmt  la  maillaur  axamplaira 
qu'il  lui  a  iti  possibla  da  sa  procurer.  Las  details 
da  cat  axamplaira  qui  sont  paut-Atra  uniquas  du 
point  da  vua  bibliographiqua,  qui  pauvant  modifier 
una  imaga  raproduita,  ou  qui  pauvant  axiger  una 
modification  dana  la  mAthoda  normala  da  filmage 
aont  indiqute  ci-dassous. 


I     I   Colourad  pagas/ 


Q 


This  itam  is  filmed  at  tha  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  filmA  au  taux  da  reduction  indiqu*  ci-daasous. 


Pagaa  da  coulaur 

Pagaa  damaged/ 
Pagaa  andommagtes 

Pages  reatorad  and/oi 

Pages  restauries  et/ou  pallicuites 

Pagas  discoloured,  stained  or  foxei 
Pages  dAcolories,  tachaties  ou  piquies 

Pages  detached/ 
Pagas  ditachies 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  prir 

Quality  inAgale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  matarii 
Comprend  du  material  suppiimentaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Mition  disponible 


rn  Pagaa  damaged/ 

|~n  Pages  reatorad  and/or  laminated/ 

Fyj  Pagas  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 

I     I  Pages  detached/ 

r~pi  Showthrough/ 

I      I  Quality  of  print  varies/ 

I     I  Includes  supplementary  material/ 

I     I  Only  edition  available/ 


Tha 
toti 


Tha 
poa) 
ofti 
film 


Ori| 

bag 

tha 

aion 

oth( 

first 

sior 

or  11 


Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Lea  pages  totaiement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  M  filmtes  d  nouveau  de  fapon  A 
obtanir  la  meilieure  imaga  possible. 


The 
shal 
TIN 
whi 

Mai 
diffi 
anti 
bag 
righ 
raqi 
mat 


10X 

14X 

1IX 

22X 

26X 

aox 

y 

12X 

16X 

aox 

24X 

28X 

32X 

Ills 

Ju 

difier 
in« 
laga 


The  copy  filmed  hare  haa  baan  raproducad  thanka 
to  tha  ganaroaity  of: 

Dana  Porttr  Arts  Library 
Univtnity  of  Wattrioo 

Tha  imagaa  appearing  here  are  tha  beat  quality 
poaaible  conaidering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  icaeping  with  the 
filming  contract  apacificationa. 


L'exemplaire  filmA  fut  reproduit  grice  A  la 
g4n*roaitA  da: 

Dana  Portar  Arts  Library 
Univtnity  of  Wattrioo 

Lea  imagaa  auivantea  ont  4tA  raproduitea  avac  la 
plua  grand  aoin,  compta  tenu  de  la  condition  at 
do  la  nattet*  de  rexemplaire  film*,  et  en 
conformity  avac  lea  conditiona  du  contrat  de 
fllmaga. 


Original  copiea  in  printed  paper  covera  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  laat  page  with  a  printed  or  illuatrated  imprea- 
aion,  or  tha  bacic  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copiea  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
firat  page  with  a  printed  or  illuatrated  imprea- 
aion,  and  ending  on  the  laat  page  with  a  printed 
or  illuatrated  impreaaion. 


Lea  exemplairea  originaux  dont  la  couvarture  en 
papier  eat  imprimAe  aont  filmia  an  commenpant 
par  la  premier  plat  at  an  tarminant  aoit  par  la 
darnlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  emprelnte 
d'impreaaion  ou  d'illuatration,  aoit  par  la  aacond 
plat,  aalon  le  caa.  Toua  lea  autrea  exemplairea 
originaux  aont  filmte  an  commanpant  par  la 
pramiAre  page  qui  comporte  une  emprelnte 
d'impreaaion  ou  d'illuatration  at  en  terminant  par 
la  darnlAre  pege  qui  comporte  une  telle 
emprelnte. 


The  laat  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
ahall  contain  the  aymbol  ^^-  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  aymbol  y  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  appliaa. 


Un  dea  aymbolea  auivanta  apparattra  sur  la 
derniAre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  aalon  la 
caa:  le  aymbole  -^  aignifie  "A  8UIVRE",  la 
aymbole  ▼  aignifie  "FIN". 


Mepa,  plataa,  charta,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratioa.  Thoae  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  expoaure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  aa  many  framea  aa 
required.  The  following  diagrama  illuatrate  the 
method: 


Lea  cartea,  planchea,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
filmte  A  dea  taux  de  reduction  diff Arenta. 
Loraqua  le  document  eat  trop  grand  pour  Atra 
reproduit  en  un  aeul  clichA,  11  eat  flimA  A  partir 
de  Tangle  aupArieur  geuche,  de  gauche  A  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bea,  en  prenant  la  nombra 
d'imagea  nAceaaaire.  Lea  diagrammea  auivanta 
illuatrant  la  mAthode. 


'ata 


Blure, 


3 


2X 


1  2  3 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

HISTORY    OF    THE    REIGN 


OK 


FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


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HISTORY   OF  THE   REIGN 


0¥ 


FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA 


THE    CATHOLIC. 


By    WILLIAM    H.   PRESCOTT, 

CnitRBSPONDINn  MnMBBR  OP  THE  INSTITUrB  OP  PKANCB,  OP  THB  ROVAL 
ACADBMV  OF  HISTORY  AT  MADKIU,  ETC. 


Conjuglo  tali ! 


Qjx  sur(;ere  re^aa 
P'irgil.  Mneid.  iv.  47. 

Crevere  vires,  fainaque  et  iinperi 
Porrecta  inajestas  ab  Euro 
Soils  ad  Occidiutin  cubilu. 

Harat.  Cartn.  iv.  15. 


NEW  AND   REVISED   EDITION, 

WITH    THE   author's    LATEST   CORRECTIONS   AND 

ADDITIONS. 


EDITED   BY  JOHN   FOSTER   KIRK. 


IN  THREE  VOLUMES.— VOL.  I. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

J.   B.   LIPPINCOTT    &    CO. 
1873. 


Property  of  the  Library 
University  of  Waterloo 


Entered,  according  to  Act  or  Congress,  in  the  year  1837,  by 

WILLIAM  H.  PRESCOTT, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  District  of  MaHsachiisetU. 


Re-entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1865,  by 

SUSAN  PRESCOTT  and  WILLIAM  GARDINER  PRESCOTT, 

In  the  Cleric's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  187a,  by 

J.   B.   LIPPINCOTT   &    CO., 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


Lippincott's    Press, 
Philadelphia. 


% 


TO  THE 

HONORABLE   WILLIAM   PRESCOIT,  LL.D., 

THE  GUIDE  OF  MY  YOUTH, 
MY  BEST  FRIEND  IN  RIPER  YEARS. 

WITH  THE  WARMEST  FEELINGS  OF  FILIAL  AFFECTION, 
ARE  RESPECTFULLY  INSCRIBED. 


EDITOR'S   PREFACE. 


In  the  intervals  of  composition,  especially 
during  the  last  years  of  his  life,  Mr.  Prescott 
devoted  much  time  to  the  revision  of  his  pub- 
lished works.  The  changes  he  made  included, 
besides  many  verbal  amendments  and  some  alter- 
ations of  greater  moment,  numerous  additions, 
principally  to  the  notes,  from  the  fresh  material 
accumulated  in  the  progress  of  his  researches. 
Successive  English  editions  published  during  his 
lifetime  profited  to  some  extent  by  this  labor; 
but  his  purpose  to  incorporate  the  whole  of  its 
results  in  a  new  American  edition  was  unhap- 
pily frustrated  by  his  death.  He  had  intimated 
a  desire  that  the  task  should,  in  this  event,  be 
undertaken  by  the  writer,  who  had  shared  in  the 
previous  labor  and  was  cognizant  of  the  details, 
and  to  whom  it  has  accordingly  been  intrusted 
by  the  publishers,  the  present  proprietors  of  the 
copyrights.  It  has  consisted  mainly  in  collating 
the   editions,  errors  having  crept   into  the  later 

(vii) 


Vlll 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE. 


and  otherwise  more  perfect  ones ;  inserting  emen- 
dations and  additions  from  the  author's  manu- 
scripts ;  verifying  doubtful  references ;  and  secur- 
ing, by  a  careful  supervision  of  the  proofs,  that 
high  degree  of  typographical  accuracy  which  is 
especially  desirable  in  reprints  of  standard  works. 
Occasional  notes,  confined  to  points  of  fact,  have 
been  appended  by  the  editor,  where  statements  in 
the  text,  based  on  insufficient  authority  or  called 
in  question  by  recent  investigators,  needed  to  be 
substantiated  or  corrected. 


PREFACE 


TO    THE    FIRST    EDITION. 


English  writers  have  done  more  for  the  illustration 
of  Spanish  history  than  for  that  of  any  other  except 
their  own.  To  say  nothing  of  the  recent  general  com- 
pendium executed  for  the  **  Cabinet  Cyclopaedia,"  a 
work  of  singular  acuteness  and  information,  we  have 
particular  narratives  of  the  several  reigns,  in  an  un- 
broken series,  from  the  emperor  Charles  the  Fifth  (the 
First  of  Spain)  to  Charles  the  Third,  at  the  close  of  the 
last  century,  by  authors  whose  names  are  a  sufficient 
guarantee  for  the  excellence  of  their  productions.  It  is 
singular  that,  with  this  attention  to  the  modern  his- 
tory of  the  Peninsula,  there  should  be  no  particular 
account  of  the  period  which  may  be  considered  as 
the  proper  basis  of  it, — the  reign  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella. 

In  this  reign,  the  several  States  into  which  the 
country  had  been  broken  up  for  ages  were  brought 
under  a  common  rule;    the  kingdom  of  Naples  was 

(ix) 


I 


■^ 


X  PREFACE. 

conquered ;  America  discovered  and  colonized ;  the 
ancient  empire  of  the  Spanish  Arabs  subverted ;  the 
dread  tribunal  of  the  Modern  Inquisition  established  j 
the  Jews,  who  contributed  so  sensibly  to  the  wealth 
and  civilization  of  the  country,  were  banished ;  and, 
in  fine,  such  changes  were  introduced  into  the  interior 
administration  of  the  monarchy  as  have  left  a  perma- 
nent impression  on  the  character  and  condition  of  the 
nation. 

The  actors  in  these  events  were  evei  y  way  suited  to 
their  importance.  Besides  the  reigning  sovereigns, 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  the  latter  certainly  one  of 
the  most  interesting  personages  in  history,  we  have, 
in  political  affairs,  that  consummate  statesman,  Car- 
dinal Ximenes,  in  military,  the  "Gr^at  Captain," 
Gonsalvo  de  Cordova,  and  in  maritime,  the  most 
successful  navigator  of  any  age,  Christopher  Colum- 
bus; whose  entire  biographies  fall  within  the  limits 
of  this  period.  Even  such  portions  of  it  as  have 
been  incidentally  touched  by  English  writers,  as  the 
Italian  wars,  for  example,  have  been  drawn  so  exclu- 
sively from  French  and  Italian  sources  that  they  may 
be  said  to  be  untrodden  ground  for  the  historian 
of  Spain.* 

*  The  only  histories  of  this  reign  by  Continental  writers,  with  which 
I  am  acquainted,  are  the  "  Histoire  des  Rois  Catholiques  Ferdinand 
et  Isabelle,  par  I'Abb^  Mignot,  Paris,  1766,"  and  the  "  Geschichte  der 
Regierung  Ferdinand  des  Katholischen,  von  Rupert  Becker.  Prag  und 
Leipzig,  1790."     Their  authors  have  employed  the  most  accessible 


PREFACE. 


XI 


It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  an  account  of 
this  reign  could  not  have  been  undertaken  at  any  pre- 
cedmg  period  with  any  thing  like  the  advantages  at 
present  afforded,  owing  to  the  light  which  recent 
researches  of  Spanish  scholars,  in  the  greater  freedom 
of  inquiry  now  enjoyed,  have  shed  on  some  of  its  most 
interesting  and  least  familiar  features.  The  most  im- 
portant of  the  works  to  which  I  allude  are,  the  History 
of  the  Inquisition,  from  official  documents,  by  its 
secretary,  Llorente ;  the  analysis  of  the  political  insti- 
tutions of  the  kingdom,  by  such  writers  as  Marina, 
Sempere,  and  Capmany;  the  literal  version,  now  made 
for  the  first  time,  of  the  Spanish-Arab  chronicles,  by 
Conde;  the  collection  of  original  and  unpublished  docu- 
ments illustrating  the  history  of  Columbus  and  the 
early  Castilian  navigators,  by  Navarrete;  and,  lastly, 
the  copious  illustrations  of  Isabella's  reign  by  Clemen- 
cin,  the  late  lamented  secretary  of  the  Royal  Academy 
of  History,  forming  the  sixth  volume  of  its  valuable 
Memoirs. 

It  was  the  knowledge  of  these  facilities  for  doing 
justice  to  this  subject,  as  well  as  its  intrinsic  merits, 
which  led  me,  ten  years  since,  to  select  it ;  and  surely 

materials  only  in  the  compilation ;  and,  indeed,  they  lay  claim  to  no 
KTcat  research,  which  would  seem  to  be  precluded  by  the  extent  of 
their  works,  in  neither  instance  exceeding  two  volumes  duodecimo. 
They  have  the  merit  of  exhibiting,  in  a  simple,  perspicuous  form,  those 
events  which,  lying  on  the  surface,  may  be  found  more  or  less  expanded 
in  most  general  histories. 


xu 


PREFACE. 


no  subject  could  be  found  more  suitable  for  the  pen  of 
an  American  than  a  history  of  that  reign  under  the 
auspices  of  which  the  existence  of  his  own  favored 
quarter  of  the  globe  was  first  revealed.  As  I  was  con- 
scious that  the  value  of  the  history  must  depend  mainly 
on  that  of  its  materials,  I  have  spared  neither  pains  nor 
expense,  from  the  first,  in  collecting  the  most  authentic. 
In  accomplishing  this,  I  must  acknowledge  the  services 
of  my  friends,  Mr.  Alexander  H.  Everett,  then  minister 
plenipotentiary  from  the  United  States  to  the  court 
of  Madrid,  Mr.  Arthur  Middleton,  secretary  of  the 
American  legation,  and,  above  all,  Mr.  O.  Rich,  now 
American  consul  for  the  Balearic  Islands,  a  gentleman 
whose  extensive  bibliographical  knowledge,  and  un- 
wearied researches  during  a  long  residence  in  the  Pen- 
insula, have  been  liberally  employed  for  the  benefit 
both  of  his  own  country  and  of  England.  With  such 
assistance,  I  flatter  myself  that  I  have  been  enabled  to 
secure  whatever  can  materially  conduce  to  the  illustra- 
tion of  the  period  in  question,  whether  in  the  form  of 
chronicle,  memoir,  private  correspondence,  legal  codes, 
or  official  documents.  Among  these  are  various  con- 
temporary manuscripts,  covering  the  whole  ground  of 
the  narrative,  none  of  which  have  been  printed,  and 
some  of  them  but  little  known  to  Spanish  scholars.  In 
obtaining  copies  of  these  from  the  public  libraries,  I 
must  add  that  I  have  found  facilities  under  the  present 
liberal  government  which  were  denied  me  under  the 


PREFACE. 


Xlll 


preceding.  In  addition  to  these  sources  of  informa- 
tion, I  have  availed  myself,  in  the  part  of  the  work 
occupied  with  literary  criticism  and  history,  of  the 
library  of  my  friend,  Mr.  George  Ticknor,  who  during 
a  visit  to  Spain,  some  years  since,  collected  whatever 
was  rare  and  valuable  in  the  literature  of  the  Peninsula. 
I  must  further  acknowledge  my  obligations  to  the 
library  of  Harvard  University,  in  Cambridge,  from 
whose  rich  repository  of  books  relating  to  our  own 
country  I  have  derived  material  aid;  and,  lastly,  I 
must  not  omit  to  notice  the  favors  of  another  kind  for 
which  I  am  indebted  to  my  friend,  Mr.  William  H. 
Gardiner,  whose  judicious  counsels  have  been  of  essen- 
tial benefit  to  me  in  the  revision  of  my  labors. 

In  the  plan  of  the  work,  I  have  not  limited  myself 
to  a  strict  chronological  narrative  of  passing  events, 
but  have  occasionally  paused,  at  the  expense,  perhaps, 
of  some  interest  in  the  story,  to  seek  such  collateral 
information  as  might  bring  these  events  into  a  clearer 
view.  I  have  devoted  a  liberal  portion  of  the  work 
to  the  literary  progress  of  the  nation,  conceiving  this 
quite  as  essential  a  part  of  its  history  as  civil  and  mil- 
itary details.  I  have  occasionally  introduced,  at  the 
close  of  the  chapters,  a  critical  notice  of  the  authori- 
ties used,  that  the  reader  may  form  some  estimate  of 
their*  comparative  value  and  credibility.  Finally,  I 
have  endeavored  to  present  him  with  such  an  account 
of  the  state  of  affairs,  both  before  the  accession  and 


XIV 


PREFACE. 


I   11 


at  the  demise  of  the  Catholic  sovereigns,  as  might 
afTord  him  the  best  points  of  view  for  surveying  the 
entire  results  of  their  reign. 

How  far  I  have  succeeded  in  the  execution  of  this 
plan  must  be  left  to  the  reader's  candid  judgment. 
Many  errors  he  may  be  able  to  detect.  Sure  I  am, 
there  can  be  no  one  more  sensible  of  my  deficiencies 
than  myself;  although  it  was  not  till  after  practical 
experience  that  I  could  fully  estimate  the  difficulty  of 
obtaining  anything  like  a  faithful  portraiture  of  a  dis- 
tant age,  amidst  the  shifting  hues  and  perplexing  cross- 
lights  of  historic  testimony.  From  one  class  of  errors 
my  subject  necessarily  exempts  me, — those  founded  on 
national  or  party  feeling.  I  may  have  been  more  open 
to  another  fault, — that  of  too  strong  a  bias  in  favor  of 
my  principal  actors;  for  characters  noble  and  inter- 
esting in  themselves  naturally  beget  a  sort  of  par- 
tiality, akin  to  friendship,  in  the  historian's  mind, 
accustomed  to  the  daily  contemplation  of  them. 
Whatever  defects  may  be  charged  on  the  work,  I  can 
at  least  assure  myself  that  it  is  an  honest  record  of  a 
reign  important  in  itself,  new  to  the  reader  in  an 
English  dress,  and  resting  on  a  solid  basis  of  authentic 
materials,  such  as  probably  could  not  be  met  with  out 
of  Spain,  nor  in  it  without  much  difficulty. 

I  hope  I  shall  be  acquitted  of  egotism  although  I 
add  a  few  words  respecting  the  peculiar  embarrass- 
ments I  have  encountered  in  composing  these  volumes. 


PREFACE. 


XV 


Soon  after  my  arrangements  were  made,  early  in  1826, 
for  obtaining  the  necessary  materials  from  Madrid,  I 
was  deprived  of  the  use  of  my  eyes  for  all  purposes 
of  reading  and  writing,  and  had  no  prospect  of  again 
recovering  it.  This  was  a  serious  obstacle  to  the  pros- 
ecution of  a  work  requiring  the  perusal  of  a  large 
mass  of  authorities,  in  various  languages,  the  contents 
of  which  were  to  be  carefully  collated,  and  transferred 
to  my  own  pages,  verified  by  minute  reference.*  Thus 
shut  out  from  one  sense,  I  was  driven  to  rely  exclu- 
sively on  another,  and  to  make  the  ear  do  the  work 
of  the  eye.  With  the  assistance  of  a  reader,  unin- 
itiated, it  may  be  added,  in  any  modern  language  but 
his  own,  I  worked  my  way  through  several  venerable 
Castilian  quartos,  until  I  was  satisfied  of  the  practi- 
cability of  the  undertaking.  I  next  procured  the 
services  of  one  more  competent  to  aid  me  in  pur- 
suing my  historical  inquiries.  The  process  was  slow 
and  irksome  enough,  doubtless,  to  both  parties,  at  least 
till  my  ear  was  accommodated  to  foreign  sounds,  and 
an  antiquated,  oftentimes  barbarous  phraseology,  when 
my  progress  became  more  sensible,  and  I  was  cheered 
with  the  prospect  of  success.     It  certainly  would  have 


*  "  To  compile  a  history  from  various  authors,  when  they  can  on'  • 
be  consulted  by  other  eyes,  is  not  easy,  nor  possible  but  with  more 
skilful  and  attentive  help  than  can  be  commonly  obtained."  (John- 
son's Life  of  Milton.)  This  remark  of  the  great  critic,  which  first 
engaged  my  attention  in  the  midst  of  my  embarrassments,  although 
discouraging  at  fii-st,  in  the  end  stimulated  the  desire  to  overcome  them. 


XVI 


PREFACE. 


been  a  far  more  serious  misfortune  to  be  led  thus 
blindfold  through  the  pleasant  paths  of  literature  ;  but 
my  track  stretched,  for  the  most  part,  across  dreary 
wastes,  where  no  beauty  lurked  to  arrest  the  traveller's 
eye  and  charm  his  senses.  After  persevering  in  this 
course  for  some  years,  my  eyes,  by  the  blessing  of 
Providence,  recovered  sufficient  strength  to  allow  me 
to  use  them,  with  tolerable  freedom,  in  the  prosecu- 
tion of  my  labors,  and  in  the  revision  of  all  previously 
written.  I  hope  I  shall  not  be  misunderstood  as  stating 
these  circumstances  to  deprecate  the  severity  of  criti- 
cism, since  I  am  inclined  to  think  the  greater  circum- 
spection I  have  been  compelled  to  use  has  left  me,  on 
the  whole,  less  exposed  to  inaccuracies  than  I  should 
have  been  in  the  ordinary  mode  of  composition.  But, 
as  I  reflect  on  the  many  sober  hours  I  have  passed  in 
wading  through  black-letter  tomes,  and  through  manu- 
scripts whose  doubtful  orthography  and  defiance  of  all 
punctuation  were  so  many  stumbling-blocks  to  my 
amanuensis,  it  calls  up  a  scene  of'  whimsical  distresses, 
not  usually  encountered,  on  which  the  good-natured 
reader  may,  perhaps,  allow  I  have  some  right,  now 
that  I  have  got  the  better  of  them,  to  dwell  with 
satisfaction. 

I  will  only  remark,  in  conclusion  of  this  too  prolix 
discussion  about  myself,  that,  while  making  my  tor- 
toise-like progress,  I  saw  what  I  had  fondly  looked 
upon  as  my  own  ground  (having  indeed  lain  unmo- 


PREFACE. 


XVII 


lested  by  any  other  invader  for  so  many  ages)  sud- 
denly entered,  and  in  part  occupied,  by  one  of  my 
countrymen.  I  allude  to  Mr.  Irving's  **  History  of 
Columbus"  and  "Chronicle  of  Granada;"  the  sub- 
jects of  which,  although  covering  but  a  small  part  of 
my  whole  plan,  form  certainly  two  of  its  most  brilliant 
portions.  Now,  alas  I  if  not  devoid  of  interest,  they 
are,  at  least,  stripped  of  the  charm  of  novelty.  For 
what  eye  has  not  been  attracted  to  the  spot  on  which 
the  light  of  that  writer's  genius  has  fallen  ? 

I  cannot  quit  the  subject,  which  has  so  long  occu- 
pied me,  without  one  glance  at  the  present  unhappy 
condition  of  Spain ;  who,  shorn  of  her  ancient  splen- 
dor, humbled  by  the  loss  of  empire  abroad  and  credit 
at  home,  is  abandoned  to  all  the  evils  of  anarchy. 
Yet,  deplorable  as  this  condition  is,  it  is  not  so  bad 
as  the  lethargy  in  which  she  has  been  sunk  for  ages. 
Better  be  hurried  forward  for  a  season  on  the  wings 
of  the  tempest  than  stagnate  in  a  deathlike  calm,  fatal 
alike  to  intellectual  and  moral  progress.  The  crisis 
of  a  revolution,  when  old  things  are  passing  away 
and  new  ones  are  not  yet  established,  is  indeed  fear- 
ful. Even  the  immediate  consequences  of  its  achieve- 
ment are  scarcely  less  so  to  a  people  who  have  yet  to 
learn  by  experiment  the  precise  form  of  institutions 
best  suited  to  their  wants,  and  to  accommodate  their 
character   to   these    institutions.      Such   results    must 

come  with  time,  however,  if  the  nation  be  but  true  to 
Vol.  I.— B 


xviii 


PREFACE. 


itself.  And  that  they  will  come,  sooner  or  later,  to  the 
Spaniards,  surely  no  one  can  distrust  who  is  at  all 
conversant  with  their  earlier  history,  and  has  wit* 
nessed  the  examples  it  affords  of  heroic  virtue,  devoted 
patriotism,  and  generous  love  of  freedom  ; 

"  Chft  I'antico  valore 
non  h  ancor  morto." 

Clouds  and  darkness  have,  indeed,  settled  thick 
around  the  throne  of  the  youthful  Isabella ;  but  not  a 
deeper  darkness  than  that  which  covered  the  land  in 
the  first  years  of  her  illustrious  namesake;  and  we 
may  humbly  trust  that  the  same  Providence  which 
guided  her  reign  to  so  prosperous  a  termination  may 
carry  the  nation  safe  through  its  present  perils,  and 
secure  to  it  the  greatest  of  earthly  blessings,  civil  anrl 
religious  liberty. 

November,  1837. 


t- 


PREFACE 


TO   THE   THIRD    ENGLISH    EDITION. 


Since  the  publication  of  the  First  Edition  of  this 
work,  it  has  undergone  a  careful  revision ;  and  this, 
aided  by  the  communications  of  several  intelligent 
friends,  who  have  taken  an  interest  in  its  success,  has 
enabled  me  to  correct  several  verbal  inaccuracies,  and 
a  few  typographical  errors,  which  had  been  previously 
overlooked.  While  the  Second  Edition  was  passing 
through  the  press,  I  received,  also,  copies  of  two 
valuable  Spanish  works,  having  relation  to  the  reign 
of  the  Catholic  sovereigns,  but  which,  as  they  appeared 
during  the  recent  troubles  of  the  Peninsula,  had  not 
before  come  to  my  knowledge.  For  these  I  am  in- 
debted to  the  politeness  of  Don  Angel  Calderon  de 
la  Barca,  late  Spanish  Minister  at  Washington ;  a 
gentleman  whose  frank  and  liberal  manners,  personal 
accomplishments,  and  independent  conduct  in  public 
life  have  secured  for  him  deservedly  high  consideration 
in  the  United  States,  as  well  as  in  his  own  country. 

(xix) 


XX 


PREFACE. 


I  must  still  further  acknowledge  my  obligation  to 
Don  Pascual  de  Gayangos,  the  learned  author  of  the 
'*  Mahommedan  Dynasties  in  Spain,"  recently  published 
in  London, — a  work  which,  from  its  thorough  investi- 
gation of  original  sources  and  its  fine  spirit  of  criticism, 
must  supply,  what  has  been  so  long  felt  to  be  a  desidera- 
tum with  the  student,  the  means  of  forming  a  perfect 
acquaintance  with  the  Arabic  portion  of  the  Peninsular 
annals.  There  fell  into  the  hands  of  this  gentleman, 
on  the  breaking  up  of  the  convents  of  Saragossa,  in 
1835,  a  rich  collection  of  original  documents,  com- 
prehending, among  other  things,  the  autograph  cor- 
respondence of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  and  of  the 
principal  persons  of  their  court.  It  formed,  probably, 
part  of  the  library  of  Geronimo  Zurita, — historiographer 
of  Aragon  under  Philip  the  Second, — who,  by  virtue 
of  his  office,  was  intrusted  with  whatever  documents 
would  illustrate  the  history  of  the  country.  This  rare 
collection  was  left  at  his  death  to  a  monastery  in  his 
native  city.  Although  Zurita  is  one  of  the  principal 
authorities  for  the  present  work,  there  are  many  details 
of  interest  in  this  correspondence  which  have  passed 
unnoticed  by  him,  even  when  forming  the  basis  of  his 
conclusions ;  and  I  have  gladly  availed  myself  of  the 
liberality  and  great  kindness  of  Senor  de  Gayangos, 
who  has  placed  these  manuscripts  at  my  disposal, 
transcribing  such  as  I  have  selected  for  the  corrobora- 
tion and  further  illustration  of  my  work.     The  diffi- 


PREFACE, 


XXI 


culties  attending  this  labor  of  love  will  be  better 
appreciated  when  it  is  understood  that  the  original 
writing  is  in  an  antiquated  character,  which  few  Spanish 
scholars  of  the  present  day  could  comprehend,  and 
often  in  cipher,  which  requires  much  patience  and  in- 
genuity to  explain.  With  these  various  emendations, 
it  is  hoped  that  tre  present  Edition  may  be  found 
more  deserving  of  that  favor  from  the  public  which  has 
been  so  courteously  accorded  to  the  preceding. 

March,  1841. 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.   I. 


INTRODUCTION. 


SECTION  I. 

PAGB 

View  of  the  Castilian  Monarchy  before  the  Fifteenth 

Century      i 

State  of  Spain  at  the  Middle  of  the  Fifteenth  Century  .         .  2 

Early  History  and  Constitution  of  Castile 4 

The  Visigoths 4 

Invasion  of  the  Arabs 5 

Its  Influence  on  the  Condition  of  the  Spaniards    ...  8 

Causes  of  their  slow  Reconquest  of  the  Country        ...  9 

Their  ultimate  Success  certain 10 

Their  Religious  Enthusiasm 11 

Influence  of  their  Minstrelsy 13 

Their  Charily  to  the  Infidel 14 

Their  Chivalry 14 

Early  Importance  of  the  Castilian  Towns 18 

Their  Privileges 18 

Castilian  Cortes 21 

lis  great  Powers 23 

Its  Boldness 25 

Hermandades  of  Castile 26 

Wealth  of  the  Cities 27 

Period  of  the  highest  Power  of  the  Commons        ...  30 

The  Nobility 31 

Their  Privileges 02 

Their  great  Wealth 34 

Their  turbulent  Spirit 37 

The  Cavalleros  or  Knights 38 

The  Clergy 40 

(  x\iii  ) 


xxiv  CONTENTS. 

PACB 

Influence  of  the  Papal  Court 40 

Corruption  of  the  Clergy 41 

Their  rich  Possessions 42 

Limited  Extent  of  the  Royal  Prerogative       ....  45 

Poverty  of  the  Crown 48 

Its  Causes 48 

Anecdote  of  Henry  III.  of  Castile 49 

Constitution  at  the  Beginning  of  the  Fifteenth  Century         .  52 

Constitutional  Writers  on  Castile 54 

Notice  of  Marina  and  Sempere 54 


SECTION  11. 


Review  of  the  Constitution  of  Aragon,  to  the  Middle 
OF  THE  Fifteenth  Century 

Rise  of  Aragon      .... 
Foreign  Conquests 
Code  of  Soprarbe  . 


The  Ricos  H  ombres  . 

Their  Immunities  . 

Their  Turbulence 

Privileges  of  Union 

Their  Abrogation 

The  Legislature  of  Aragon 

Its  Forms  of  Proceeding 

Its  Powers 

The  General  Privilege 

Judicial  Functions  of  Cortes 

Preponderance  of  the  Commons 

The  Justice  of  Aragon  . 

His  great  Authority    . 

Security  against  its  Abuse 

Independent  Execution  of  it 

Valencia  and  Catalonia . 

Rise  and  Opulence  of  Barcelona 

Her  free  Institutions 

Haughty  Spirit  of  the  Catalans 

Intellectual  Culture 

Poetical  Academv  of  Tortosa    . 


S6 

S6 
58 
60 
61 
63 
64 

6S 
67 
68 

71 
72 

74 
75 

n 

78 

79 
82 

83 
84 
86 
88 
90 
93 
94 


CONTENTS. 


XXV 


rAOB 

Brief  Glory  of  the  Limousin 96 

Constitutional  Writers  on  Aragon 97 

Notices  of  Blancas,  Martel,  and  Capmany    ....        98 


PART  FIRST. 


THE  PERIOD,  WHEN  THE  DIFFERENT  KINGDOMS  OF  SPAIN 
WERE  FIRST  UNITED  UNDER  ONE  MONARCHY,  AND  A  THOR- 
OUGH REFORM  WAS  INTRODUCED  INTO  THEIR  INTERNAL 
ADMINISTRATION;  OR  THE  PERIOD  EXHIBITING  MOST 
FULLY  THE  DOMESTIC  POLICY  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISA- 
BELLA. 

CHAPTER  I. 

State  of  Castile  at  the  Birth  of  Isabella. — Reign  of 
John  II.  of  Castile 103 

Revolution  of  Trastamara 104 

Accession  of  John  II 104 

Rise  of  Alvaro  de  Luna 105 

Jealousy  of  the  Nobles 106 

Oppression  of  the  Commons 107 

Its  Consequences 1 10 

Early  Literature  of  Castile 112 

Its  Encouragement  under  John  II 113 

Marquis  of  Villena 113 

Marquis  of  Santillana 116 

John  de  Mena 118 

His  Influence .  119 

Baena's  Cancionero 120 

Castilian  Literature  under  John  II 121 

Decline  of  Alvaro  de  Luna 123 

His  Fall 124 

His  Death 125 

Lamented  by  John 126 

Death  of  John  II.        «. 127 

Birth  of  Isabella       ,        , 128 

B 


xxvi  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Condition  of  Aragon  during  the  Minority  of  Ferdi- 
nand.—Reign  OF  John  II.  of  Aragon 

John  of  Aragon 

Title  of  his  Son  Carlos  to  Navarre  . 

He  takes  Arms  against  his  Father        .        . 

Is  defeated 

Birth  of  Ferdinand 

Carlos  retires  to  Naples    .... 
He  passes  into  Sicily    ..... 
John  II.  succeeds  to  the  Crown  of  Aragon 
Carlos  reconciled  with  his  Father 

Is  imprisoned 

Insurrection  of  the  Catalans 

Carlos  released 

His  Death 

His  Character 

Tragical  Story  of  Blanche    .... 
Ferdinand  sworn  Heir  to  the  Crown 
Besieged  by  the  Catalans  in  Gerona     . 
Treaty  between  France  and  Aragon 
General  Revolt  in  Catalonia 

Successes  of  John 

Crown  of  Catalonia  offered  to  Rene  of  Anjou 
Distress  and  Embarrassments  of  John      . 
Popularity  of  the  Duke  of  Lorraine    .        . 
Death  of  the  Queen  of  Aragon        .        . 
Improvement  in  John's  Affairs     .        .        , 

Siege  of  Barcelona 

It  surrenders 


CHAPTER  III. 

Reign  of  Henry  IV.  of  Castile. — Civil  War, 
RiAGE  OF  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 

Popularity  of  Henry  IV 

He  disappoints  Expectations    .        .        .        .        i 
His  dissolute  Habit"; 


PAGB 

129 

Z3O 
130 

13a 

133 
134 
13s 
137 
137 

139 
139 
141 
14a 
14a 
144 
146 

147 
149 

ISO 
151 
153 
154 
156 
156 
157 
159 
159 


— MAR- 


161 
161 
163 
X64 


CONTENTS.  xxvii 

PAGB 

Oppression  of  the  People z66 

Debasement  of  the  Coin 167 

Character  of  Pachcco,  Marquis  of  Villena       ....  168 

Character  of  the  Archbishop  of  Toledo       ....  169 

Interview  between  Henry  IV.  and  Louis  XI 170 

Disgrace  of  Villena  and  the  Archbishop  of  Toledo      .        .  173 

League  of  the  Nobles 172 

Deposition  of  Henry  at  Avila 175 

Division  of  Parties 176 

Intrigues  of  the  Marquis  of  Villena 177 

Henry  disbands  his  Forces 178 

Proposition  for  the  Marriage  of  Isabella      ....  179 

Her  early  Education 180 

Projected  Union  with  the  Grand  Master  of  Calatrava .        .  i8i 

His  sudden  Death 182 

Battle  of  Olmedo 183 

Civil  Anarchy 185 

Death  and  Character  of  Alfonso 187 

His  Reign  a  Usurpation 188 

The  Crown  offered  to  Isabella 189 

She  declines  it 189 

Treaty  between  Henry  and  the  Confederates       .        .        .  190 

Isabella  acknowledged  Heir  to  the  Crown  at  Toros  de  Guisando  191 

Suitors  to  Isabella 193 

Ferdinand  of  Aragon 194 

Support  of  Joanna  Beltraneja 195 

Proposal  of  the  King  of  Portugal  rejected  by  Isabella     .        .  197 

She  accepts  Ferdinand 198 

Articles  of  Marriage 199 

Critical  Situation  of  Isabella 200 

Ferdinand  enters  Castile 203 

Private  Interview  between  Ferdinand  and  Isabella      .        .  205 

Their  Marriage 207 

Notice  of  the  Quincuagenas  of  Oviedo        ....  209 


xxviii 


CONTENTS. 


. 


i 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Factions  in  Castile.— War  between  France  and  Ara- 

GON.— Death  of  Henry  IV.  of  Castile       .       .       .  aix 

Factions  in  Castile an 

Ferdinand  and  Isabella    .        . 313 

Civil  Anarchy 315 

Revolt  of  Roussillon  from  Louis  XI 217 

Gallant  Defence  of  Perpignan 319 

Ferdinand  raises  the  Siege 220 

Treaty  between  France  and  Aragon 331 

Isabella's  Party  gains  Strength 333 

Interview  between  Henry  IV.  and  Isabella  at  Segovia         .  934 

Second  French  Invasion  of  Roussillon 327 

Ferdinand's  summary  Execution  of  Justice         .        .        .  32S 

Siege  and  Reduction  of  Perpignan 329 

Perfidy  of  Louis  XI 930 

Illness  of  Henry  IV.  of  Castile 331 

His  Death 231 

Influence  of  his  Reign .  333 

Notice  of  Alonso  de  Palencia 234 

Notice  of  Enriquez  del  Castillo        ......  835 

CHAPTER  V. 


Accession  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.— War  of  the 

Succession.— Battle  of  Toro 237 

Title  of  Isabella 237 

She  is  proclaimed  Queen      .......  239 

Settlement  of  the  Crown 341 

Partisans  of  Joanna 343 

Alfonso  of  Portugal  supports  her  Cause 344 

He  invades  Castile       . 046 

He  espouses  Joanna 347 

Castilian  Army 248 

Ferdinand  marches  against  Alfonso 349 

He  challenges  him  to  personal  Combat        ....  249 

Disorderly  Retreat  of  the  Castilians         .....  250 


f 


CONTENTS. 


XXIX 


SIX 

ax  I 

3X3 

aiS 

317 

3x9 
320 

33X 
.     323 

324 
.     337 

aaS 
.   939 

330 
.   931 

a3X 
.   933 

234 
935 


237 
237 

^ 

239 

% 

84X 

1 

243 

844 

Rg 

346 

i 

247 

348 

249 

349 

250 

i 

PAGB 

Appropriation  of  the  Church  Plate  ......  353 

Reorganization  of  the  Army 354 

King  of  Portugal  arrives  before  Zamora 354 

Absurd  Position 355 

He  suddenly  decamps •  356 

Overtaken  by  Ferdinand •  357 

Battle  of  Toro 358 

The  Portuguese  routed 360 

Isabella's  Thanksgiving  for  the  Victory 363 

Submission  of  the  whole  Kingdom 36a 

The  King  of  Portugal  visits  France 363 

Returns  to  Portugal 365 

Peace  with  France    .........  367 

Active  Measures  of  Isabella 367 

Treaty  of  Peace  with  Portugal 368 

Joanna  takes  the  Veil 370 

Death  of  the  King  of  Portugal a7X 

Death  of  the  King  of  Aragon 373 


CHAPTER  VI. 

INTERNAL  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE        . 

Scheme  of  Reform  for  the  Government  of  Castile 
Administration  of  Justice         .... 
Establisliment  of  the  Hermandad 

Code  of  the  Hermandad 

Ineffectual  Opposition  of  the  Nobility .        . 

Tumult  at  Segovia 

Isabella's  Presence  of  Mind         .        .        . 
Isabella  visits  Seville         .        .        •        .        • 
Her  splendid  Reception  there      .        .        , 
Severe  Execution  of  Justice     .... 
Marquis  of  Cadiz  and  Duke  of  Medina  Sidonia 
Royal  Progress  through  Andalusia  .        .        * 
Impartial  Execution  of  the  Laws         .        . 
Reorganization  of  the  Tribunals      .        .        , 
King  and  Queen  preside  in  Courts  of  Justice 
Re-establishment  of  Order       .... 
Reform  of  the  Jurisprudence        .        ,        , 


974 
27s 
27s 
376 

378 
378 
280 
281 
283 
283 
284 
28S 
286 
287 
283 
291 
292 
293 


-I(f 


XXX  CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

Code  uf  Ordenan9as  Reales 094 

Schemes  fur  reducing  the  Nobility 395 

Revocation  of  the  Royal  Grants 398 

Legislative  Enactments 300 

The  Queen's  spirited  Conduct  to  the  Nobility      .        .        .  30a 

Military  Orders  of  Castile 305 

Order  of  St.  Jago 306 

Order  of  Calatrava 308 

Order  of  Alcantara 309 

Grand-masterships  annexed  to  the  Crown        •        •        .        .  31a 

Their  Reformation 313 

Usurpations  of  the  Church       .        .        .      *  .        .        .        .  314 

Resisted  by  Cortes .  315 

Difference  with  the  Pope  ..«...•.  315 

Restoration  of  Trade .        .  318 

Salutary  Enactments  of  Cortes 319 

Prosperity  of  the  Kingdom 331 

Notice  of  Clemencin •        •        .  334 


J 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Establishment  of  the  Modern  Inquisition      .       .  335 

Origin  of  the  Ancient  Inquisition 336 

Its  Introduction  into  Aragon 327 

Retrospective  View  of  the  Jews  in  Spain         ....  330 

Under  the  Arabs 331 

Under  the  Castilians 333 

Persecution  of  the  Jews 334 

Their  Stale  at  the  Accession  of  Isabella 337 

Charges  against  them 339 

Bigotry  of  the  Age 340 

Its  Influence  on  Isabella      .......  341 

Character  of  her  Confessor  Torquemada         ....  34a 

Papal  Bull  authorizing  the  Inquisition 344 

Isabella  resorts  to  milder  Measures 344 

Enforces  the  Papal  Bull 345 

Inquisition  at  Seville 345 

Proofs  of  Judaism 346 

The  sanguinary  Proceedings  of  the  Inquisitors        .        .        .  347 


'¥&' 


CONTENTS,  xxxi 

Conduct  of  the  Papal  Court 35° 

Final  Organization  of  the  Inquisition 350 

Forms  of  Trial 3S» 

Torture 353 

Injustice  of  its  Proceedings      ....•••  354 

Autos  da  Fe 35^ 

Convictions  under  Torquemada 3^0 

Perfidious  Policy  of  Rome 3^* 

Notice  of  Llorente's  History  of  the  Inquisition       .        .       .  364 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Review  of  the  Political  and  Intellectual  Condition 
OF  THE  Spanish  Arabs  previous  to  the  War  of 

Granada  366 

E^rly  Successes  of  Mahometanism 3^ 

Conquest  of  Spain 3^8 

Western  Caliphate 37' 

Form  of  Government 37* 

Character  of  the  Sovereigns 373 

Military  Establishment 374 

Sumptuous  public  Works         ..•..••  374 

Great  Mosque  of  Cordova .  375 

Revenues 376 

Mineral  Wealth  of  Spain     .        .        .        .        .        .        .  377 

Husbandry  and  Manufactures 378 

Population 379 

Character  of  Alhakem  II 380 

Intellectual  Development 38Z 

Dismemberment  of  the  Cordovan  Empire        ....  383 

Kingdom  of  Granada 384 

Agriculture  and  Commerce 386 

Resources  of  the  Crown 387 

Luxurious  Character  of  the  People 388 

Moorish  Gallantry 390 

Chivalry 393 

Unsettled  State  of  Granada 392 

Causes  of  her  successful  Resistance ......  393 

Literature  of  the  Spanish  Arabs 395 


xxxii  CONTENTS. 

rAoa 

Circumstances  favorable  to  it 396 

Provisions  for  Learning 396 

The  actual  Results 398 

Averroes 399 

Their  Historical  Merits 400 

Useful  Discoveries        ....*...  40Z 

The  Impulse  given  by  them  to  Europe 40a 

Their  elegant  Literature 40a 

Poetical  Character 403 

Influence  on  the  Castilian ,        •  405 

Circumstances  prejudicial  to  their  Reputation  .        ,        .        .  407 

Notices  of  Casiri,  Conde,  and  Cardonne      .        .        •        .  409 


CHAPTER  IX. 

War  of  Granada.— Surprise  of  Zahara.— Capture 
Alhama      

Zahara  surprised  by  the  Moors     . 
Description  of  Alhama     .        .        . 
The  Marquis  of  Cadiz . 
His  Expedition  against  Alhama        . 
Surprise  of  the  Fortress 
Valor  of  the  Citizens 
Sally  upon  the  Moors  . 
Desperate  Combat    .... 
Fall  of  Alhama    .... 
Consternation  of  the  Moors     .        . 
The  Moors  besiege  Alhama . 
Distress  of  the  Garrison    .        .        . 
The  Duke  of  Medina  Sidonia 
Marches  to  relieve  Alhama 
Raises  the  Siege    .... 
Meeting  of  the  tviro  Armies 
The  Sovereigns  at  Cordova  .        . 
Alhama  invested  again  by  the  Moors 
Isabella's  Firmness 
Ferdinand  raises  the  Siege 
Vigorous  Measures  of  the  Queen 


OP 


41a 

4»3 
41s 
416 

417 

418 
419 
430 
430 
42a 
423 

42s 
426 
428 
428 
429 
429 
431 
431 
431 
43a 
433 


CONTENTS. 


XXXlll 


CHAPTER  X. 

rAoa 
War  of  Granada.— Unsuccessful  Attempt  on  Loja.— 

Defeat  in  the  Axarquia 435 

Siege  of  Loja 435 

Castilian  Forces 436 

Encampment  before  Loja 437 

Skirmish  with  the  Enemy 437 

Retreat  of  the  Spaniards 439 

Revolution  in  Granada    .....•••  443 

Death  of  the  Archbishop  of  Toledo 445 

Affairs  of  Italy 447 

Of  Navarre 448 

Resources  of  the  Crown 450 

Justice  of  the  Sovereigns 451 

Expedition  to  the  A:  arquia 45a 

The  military  Array 454 

Progress  of  the  Army 455 

Moorish  Preparations •  456 

Skirmish  among  the  Mountains 457 

Retreat  of  the  Spaniards 458 

Their  disastrous  Situation 458 

They  resolve  to  force  a  Passage   ......  460 

Difficulties  of  the  Ascent •        *  461 

Dreadful  Slaughter       .        . 46a 

Marquis  of  Cadiz  escapes 463 

Losses  of  the  Christians 464 


CHAPTER  XL 

War  of  Granada.— General  View  of  the  Policy  pur- 
sued IN  the  Conduct  of  this  War   ,       .       ,       .466 

Abdallah  marches  against  the  Christians      ....  466 

111  Omens 467 

Marches  on  Lucena 468 

Battle  of  Lucena 489 

Capture  of  Abdallah 470 

Losses  of  the  Moors        •..«••..  471 
VOL.  I.— C 


i 


xxxiv  CONTENTS. 

FAGB 

Moorish  Embassy  to  Cordova  .......  473 

Debates  in  the  Spanish  Council 472 

Treaty  with  Abdallah 473 

Interview  between  the  two  Kings 474 

General  Policy  of  the  War 475 

Incessant  Hostilities 476 

Devastating  Forays 476 

Strength  of  the  Moorish  Fortresses 477 

Description  of  the  Pieces 478 

Of  the  Kinds  of  Ammunition 479 

Roads  for  the  Artillery 480 

Defences  of  the  Moors 481 

Terms  to  the  Vanquished 481 

Supplies  for  the  Army 483 

Isabella's  Care  of  the  Troops  ....,,.  483 

Her  Perseverance  in  the  War       ......  484 

Policy  towards  the  Nobles 485 

Composition  of  the  Army 487 

Swiss  Mercenaries 488 

The  English  Lord  Scales      .        .        .        .        .        .        .  489 

The  Queen's  Courtesy 490 

Magnificence  of  the  Nobles 490 

Their  Gallantry         .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .491 

Isabella  visits  the  Camp 492 

Royal  Costume 493 

Devout  Demeanor  of  the  Sovereigns 495 

Ceremonies  on  the  Occupation  of  a  City          ....  496 

Release  of  Christian  Captives 496 

Policy  in  fomenting  the  Moorish  Factions        ....  497 

Christian  Conquests 500 

Notice  of  Fernando  del  Pulgar 501 

Notice  of  Antonio  de  Lebrija 502 


I  ' 


.1 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PORTRAITS. 

Isabella  the  Catholic to  face  title,  Vol.  I. 

Ferdinand  the  Catholic to  face  title,  Vol.  II. 

Cardinal  Ximenes page  400,        "     " 

Christopher  Columbus to  face  title,  Vol.  III. 

Gonsalvo  Fernandez  of  Cordova  (a  medallion)  page  385,        "      " 

MAPS. 
Map  for  the  War  of  Granada       ....      page  i,  Vol.  II. 
Map  for  Gonsalvo  de  Cordova's  Campaigns  in  Italy  page  i.  Vol.  Ill, 

AUTOGRAPHS. 
(Vol.  I.  p.  I.) 
No.  I.  Henry  IV.  of  Castile,  signed  "  lo  el  Rey." 

2.  Isabella  the  Catholic,  dated  1473,  signed  "  la  Princesa y  Reyna." 

3.  Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  dated  1472,  signed  "el  Principe  y 

Rey." 

4.  Joanna,  daughter  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  signed  "  de  vues- 

tra  alteza." 

5.  Isabella,  daughter  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  and  Queen  of 

Portugal,  signed  "  la  Reyna." 

6.  Philip,  husband  of  Joanna,  and  King  of  Castile,  signed  "  Yo  el 

Rey." 

7.  The  Emperor,  Charles  V.,  when  13  years  old,  signed  "El 

Principe." 

8.  Emanuel  the  Great,  King  of  Portugal. 

9.  Gonzalo  Hernandez  de  Cordova,  "  The  Great  Captain." 

10.  Alonzo  de  Carillo,  Archbishop  of  Toledo,  signed  "Archiepis- 

copus  Toletanus." 

11.  Probpero  Colonna,  signed  "  Prospero  Colonna." 

XXXV 


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I 

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I 


HISTORY  OF  THE  REIGN 


OF 


FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


INTRODUCTION. 


SECTION    I. 


VIEW   OF   THE   CASTILIAN   MONARCHV    BEFORE   THE 
FIFTEENTH   CENTURY. 

Early  History  and  Constitution  of  Castile.—  Saracen  Invasion. — 
Slow  Reconquest  of  the  Country. — Religious  Enthusiasm  of  the 
Spaniards.— Influence  of  their  Minstrelsy.— Their  Chivalry.— Cas- 
tilian  Towns.— Cortes.— Its  Powers. — Its  Boldness. — Wealth  of  the 
Cities.— The  Nobility.— Their  Privileges  and  Wealth.— Knights. — 
Clergy.— Poverty  of  the  Crown.— Limited  Extent  of  the  Prerogative. 

For  several  hundred  years  after  the  great  Saracen 
invasion  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  century,  Spain 
was  broken  up  into  a  number  of  small  but  independent 
states,  divided  in  their  interests,  and  often  in  deadly 
hostility  with  one  another.  It  was  inhabited  by  races 
the  most  dissimilar  in  their  origin,  religion,  and  gov- 
ernment, the  least  important  of  which  has  exerted  a 
sensible  influence  on  the  character  and  institutions  of 
its  present  inhabitants.  At  the  close  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  these  various  races  were  blended  into  one  great 

nation,  under  one  common  rule.     Its  territorial  limits 
Vol.  I.— I  ( I ) 


INTRODUCTION. 


were  widely  extended  by  discovery  and  conquest.  Its 
domestic  institutions,  and  even  its  literature,  were 
moulded  into  the  form  which,  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent, they  have  maintained  to  the  present  day.  It  is 
the  object  of  the  present  narrative  to  exhibit  the  period 
in  which  these  momentous  results  were  effected, — the 
reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 

By  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  number 
of  states  into  which  th«.  country  had  been  divided  was 
reduced  to  four;  Castile,  Aragon,  Navarre,  and  the 
Moorish  kingdom  of  Granada.  The  last,  comprised 
within  nearly  the  same  limits  as  the  modern  province 
of  that  name,  was  all  that  remained  to  the  Moslems  of 
their  once  vast  possessions  in  the  Peninsula.  Its  con- 
centrated population  gave  it  a  degree  of  strength  alto- 
gether disproportioned  to  the  extent  of  its  territory ; 
and  the  profuse  magnificence  of  its  court,  which  rivalled 
that  of  the  anciejit  caliphs,  was  supported  by  the  labors 
of  a  sober,  industrious  people,  under  whom  agriculture 
and  several  of  the  mechanic  arts  had  reached  a  degree 
of  excellence  probably  unequalled  in  any  other  part 
of  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages. 

The  little  kingdom  of  Navarre,  embosomed  within 
the  Pyrenees,  had  often  attracted  the  avarice  of  neigh- 
boring and  more  powerful  states.  But,  since  their 
selfish  schemes  operated  as  a  mutual  check  upon  each 
other,  Navarre  still  continued  to  maintain  her  inde- 
pendence, when  all  the  smaller  states  in  the  Peninsula 
had  been  absorbed  in  the  gradually  increasing  dominion 
of  Castile  and  Aragon. 

This  latter  kingdom  comprehended  the  province 
of  that  name,  together  with  Catalonia  and  Valencia. 


CASTILE.  3 

Under  its  auspicious  climate  and  free  political  institu- 
tions, its  inhabitants  displayed  an  uncommon  share  of 
intellectual  and  moral  energy.  Its  long  line  of  coast 
opened  the  way  to  an  extensive  and  flourishing  com- 
merce; and  its  enterprising  navy  indemnified  the 
nation  for  the  scantiness  of  its  territory  at  home,  by 
the  important  foreign  conquests  of  Sardinia,  Sicily, 
Naples,  and  the  Balearic  Isles. 

The  remaining  provinces  of  Leon,  Biscay,  the  As- 
turias,  Galicia,  Old  and  New  Castile,  Estremadura, 
Murcia,  and  Andalusia,  fell  to  the  crown  of  Castile, 
which,  thus  extending  its  sway  over  an  unbroken  line 
of  country  from  the  Bay  of  Biscay  to  the  Mediterra- 
nean, seemed  by  the  magnitude  of  its  territory,  as  well 
as  by  its  antiquity  (for  it  was  there  that  the  old  Gothic 
monarchy  may  be  said  to  have  first  revived  after  the 
great  Saracen  invasion),  to  be  entitled  to  a  pre-eminence 
over  the  other  states  of  the  Peninsula.  This  claim, 
indeed,  appears  to  have  been  recognized  at  an  early 
period  of  her  history.  Aragon  did  homage  to  Castile 
for  her  territory  on  the  western  bank  of  the  Ebro, 
until  the  twelfth  century,  as  did  Navarre,  Portugal, 
and,  at  a  later  period,  the  Moorish  kingdom  of  Gra- 
nada.'   And,  when   at   length   the  various  states  of 


'  Aragon  was  formally  released  from  this  homage  in  1177,  ^^d  Por- 
tugal in  1264.  (Mariana,  Historia  general  de  Espafla  (Madrid,  1780), 
lib.  II,  cap.  14;  lib.  13,  cap.  20.)  The  king  of  Granada,  Aben  Alah- 
mar,  swore  fealty  to  St.  Ferdinand,  in  1245,  binding  himself  to  the 
payment  of  an  annual  rent,  to  serve  under  him  with  a  stipulated  num- 
ber of  his  knights  in  war,  and  personally  attend cortes  when  summoned; 
— a  whimsical  stipulation  this  for  a  Mahometan  prince.  Conde,  His- 
toria de  la  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes  en  Espaiia  (Madrid,  1820, 1821), 
torn.  iii.  cap.  30. 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

Spain  were  consolidated  into  one  monarchy,  the  capi- 
tal of  Castile  became  the  capital  of  the  new  empire, 
and  her  language  the  language  of  the  court  and  of 
literature. 

It  will  facilitate  our  inquiry  into  the  circumstances 
which  immediately  led  to  these  results,  if  we  briefly 
glance  at  the  prominent  features  in  the  early  history 
and  constitution  of  the  two  principal  Christian  states, 
Castile  and  Aragon,  previous  to  the  fifteenth  century.' 

The  Visigoths,  who  overran  the  Peninsula  in  the 
fifth  century,  brought  with  them  the  same  liberal  prin- 
ciples of  government  which  distinguished  their  Teu- 
tonic brethren.  Their  crown  was  declared  elective  by 
a  formal  legislative  act.'  Laws  were  enacted  in  the 
great  national  councils,  composed  of  prelates  and 
nobility,  and  not  unfrequently  ratified  in  an  assembly 
of  the  people.  Their  code  of  jurisprudence,  although 
abounding  in  frivolous  detail,  contained  many  admira- 
ble provisions  for  the  security  of  justice,  and,  in  the 
degree  of  civil  liberty  which  it  accorded  to  the  Roman 
inhabitants  of  the  country,  far  transcended  those  of 
most  of  the  other  barbarians  of  the  north.*    In  short, 

3  Navarre  was  too  inconsiderable,  and  bore  too  near  a  resemblance 
In  its  government  to  the  other  Peninsular  kingdoms,  to  require  a  sepa- 
rate notice ;  for  which,  indeed,  the  national  writers  afford  but  very 
scanty  materials.  The  Moorish  empire  of  Granada,  so  interesting  in 
itself,  and  so  dissimilar  in  all  respects  to  Christian  Spain,  merits  par- 
ticular attention.  I  have  deferred  the  consideration  of  it,  however,  to 
that  period  of  the  history  which  is  occupied  with  its  subversion.  See 
Part  I.,  chapter  8. 

3  See  the  Canons  of  the  fifth  Council  of  Toledo.  Florez,  EspaSa 
sagrada  (Madrid,  1747-1776),  tom.  vi.  p.  168. 

4  Recesvinto,  in  order  more  effectually  to  bring  about  the  consolida- 
tion of  his  Gothic  and  Roman  subjects  into  one  nation,  abrogated  the 


CASTILE. 


their  simple  polity  exhibited  the  germ  of  some  of  those 
institutions  which,  with  other  nations,  and  under  hap- 
pier auspices,  have  formed  the  basis  of  a  well-regulated 
constitutional  liberty.' 

But,  while  in  other  countries  the  principles  of  a  free 
government  were  slowly  and  gradually  unfolded,  their 
development  was  much  accelerated  in  Spain  by  an 
event  which,  at  the  time,  seemed  to  threaten  their 
total  extinction, — the  great  Saracen  invasion  at  the 
beginning  of  the  eighth  century.  The  religious  as  well 
as  the  political  institutions  of  the  Arabs  were  too  dis- 
similar to  those  of  the  conquered  nation,  to  allow  the 
former  to  exercise  any  very  sensible  influence  over  the 
latter  in  these  particulars.     In  the  spirit  of  toleration 

law  prohibiting  their  intt  -marriage.  The  terms  in  which  his  enact- 
ment is  conceived  disclose  a  far  more  enlightened  policy  than  that  pur- 
sued either  by  the  Franks  or  Lombards.  (See  the  Fuero  Juzgo  (ed. 
de  la  Acad.,  Madrid,  1815),  lib.  3,  tit.  i,  ley  i.) — The  Visigothic  code, 
Fuero  Juzgo  (Forum  Judicum),  originally  compiled  in  Latin,  was 
translated  into  Spanish  under  St.  Ferdinand,  and  first  printed  in  1600, 
at  Madrid.  (Los  Doctores  Asso  y  Manuel,  Instituciones  del  Derecho 
civil  de  Custilla  (Madrid,  1792),  pp.  6,  7.)  A  second  edition,  under 
the  supervision  of  the  Royal  Spanish  Academy,  was  published  in  18 15. 
This  compilation,  notwithstanding  the  apparent  nideness  and  even 
ferocity  of  some  of  its  features,  may  be  said  to  have  formed  the  basis 
of  all  the  subsequent  legislation  of  Castile.  It  was,  doubtless,  the 
exclusive  contemplation  of  such  features  that  brought  upon  these  laws 
the  sweeping  condemnation  of  Montesquieu,  as  "  pueriles,  gauches, 
idiotes, — frivoles  dans  le  fond  et  gigantesques  dans  le  style."  Esprit 
des  Lois,  liv.  28,  chap.  i. 

s  Some  of  the  local  usages,  afterwards  incorporated  in  the/ueros,  or 
charters,  of  the  Castilian  communities,  may  probably  be  derived  from 
the  time  of  the  Visigoths.  The  English  reader  may  form  a  good  idea 
of  the  tenor  of  the  legal  institutions  of  this  people  and  their  imme- 
diate descendants,  from  an  article  in  the  sixty-first  Number  of  the 
Edinburgh  Review,  written  with  equal  learning  and  vivacity. 


■!      i 


w 


$  INTRODUCTION. 

which  distinguished  the  early  followers  of  Mahomet, 
they  conceded  to  such  of  the  Goths  as  were  willing  to 
continue  among  them  after  the  conquest,  the  free  en- 
joyment of  the  religious  as  well  as  many  of  the  civil 
privileges  which  they  possessed  under  the  ancient 
monarchy.'  Under  this  liberal  dispensation  it  can- 
not be  doubted  that  many  preferred  remaining  in  the 
pleasant  regions  of  their  ancestors  to  quitting  them 
for  a  lift  of  poverty  and  toil.  These,  however,  appear 
to  have  been  chiefly  of  the  lower  order;'  and  the  men 
of  higher  rank  or  of  more  generous  sentiments,  who 
refused  to  accept  a  nominal  and  precarious  independ- 

^  The  Christians,  in  all  matters  exclusively  relating  to  themselves, 
were  governed  by  their  own  laws  (see  the  Fuero  Juzgo,  Introd.  p.  40), 
administered  by  their  own  judges,  subject  only  in  capital  cases  to  an 
appeal  to  the  Moorish  tribunals.  Their  churches  and  monasteries 
(rosce  inter  spinas,  says  the  historian)  were  scattered  over  the  principal 
towns,  Cordova  retaining  seven,  Toledo  six,  etc. ;  and  their  clergy  were 
allowed  to  display  the  costume,  and  celebrate  the  pompous  ceremonial, 
of  the  Romish  communion.  Florez,  Espafia  sagrada,  torn.  x.  trat.  33, 
cap.  7. — Morales,  Cor6nica  general  de  Espafia  (Obra'.,  Madrid,  1791- 
1793),  lib.  12,  cap.  78. — Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  part,  i,  cap. 

IS.  22- 

7  Morales,  Cor6nica,  lib.  12,  cap.  77. — Yet  the  names  of  several 
nobles  resident  among  the  Moors  appear  in  the  record  of  those  times. 
(See  Salazar  de  Mendoza,  Monarquia  de  Espafta  (Madrid,  1770),  torn.  i. 
p.  34,  note.)  If  we  could  rely  on  a  singular  statement,  quoted  by  Zurita, 
we  might  infer  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  Goths  were  content  to 
reside  among  their  Saracen  conquerors.  The  intermarriages  among 
the  two  nations  had  been  so  frequent  that  in  1311  the  amb.issador  of 
James  II.  of  Aragon  stated  to  his  Holiness,  Pope  Clement  V.,  that 
of  200,000  persons  com.  osing  the  population  of  Granada,  not  more 
than  500  were  of  pure  Moorish  descent!  (Anales  de  la  Corona  de 
Aragon  (Zaragoza,  1610),  li  .  5,  cap.  93.)  As  the  object  of  the  state- 
ment was  to  obtain  certain  ecclesiastical  aids  from  the  pontiff,  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  Moorish  war,  it  appears  very  suspicious,  notwith- 
standing the  emphasis  laid  on  it  by  the  historian. 


Vi^*-— -^TiFr' 


CASTILE.  y 

dice  at  the  hands  of  their  oppressors,  escaped  from  the 
overwhelming  inundation  into  the  neighboring  coun- 
tries of  France,  Italy,  and  Britain,  or  retreated  behind 
those  natural  fortresses  of  the  north,  the  Asturian  hills 
and  the  Pyrenees,  whither  the  victorious  Saracen  dis- 
dained to  pursue  them.* 

Here  the  broken  remnant  of  the  nation  endeavored 
to  revive  the  forms,  at  least,  of  the  ancient  government. 
But  it  may  well  be  conceived  how  imperfect  these  must 
have  been  under  a  calamity  which,  breaking  up  all  the 
artificial  distinctions  of  society,  seemed  to  resolve  it  at 
once  into  its  primitive  equality.  The  monarch,  once 
master  of  the  whole  Peninsula,  now  beheld  his  empire 
contracted  to  a  few  barren,  inhospitable  rocks.  The 
noble,  instead  of  the  broad  lands  and  thronged  halls 
of  his  ancestors,  saw  himself  at  best  but  the  chief  of 
some  wandering  horde,  seeking  a  doubtful  subsistence, 
like  himself,  by  rapine.  The  peasantry,  indeed,  may 
be  said  to  have  gained  by  the  exchange ;  and,  in  a 
situation  in  which  all  flictitious  distinctions  were  of  less 
worth,  than  individual  prowess  and  efficiency,  they  rose 
in  political  consequence.  Even  slavery,  a  sore  evil 
among  the  Visigoths,  as  indeed  among  all  the  barba- 
rians of  German  origin,  though  not  effaced,  lost  many 


8  Bleda,  Cor6nica  de  los  Moros  de  Espana  (Valencia,  1618),  p.  171. 
— This  author  states  that  in  his  time  there  were  several  families  in  Ire- 
land whose  patronymics  bore  testimony  to  their  descent  from  these 
Spanish  exiles.  That  careful  antiquary,  Morales,  considers  the  regions 
of  the  Pyrenees  lying  betwixt  Aragon  and  Navarre,  together  with  the 
Asturias,  Biscay,  Guipuscoa,  the  northern  portion  of  Galicia  and  the 
Alpujarras  (the  last  retreat,  too,  of  the  Moors,  under  the  Christian 
domination),  to  have  been  untouched  by  the  Saracen  invaders.  See 
lib.  12,  cap.  76. 


8 


INTRODUCTION. 


of  its  most  revolting  features,  under  the  more  generous 
legislation  of  later  times.' 

A  sensible  and  salutary  influence,  at  the  same  time, 
was  exerted  on  the  moral  energies  of  the  nation,  which 
had  been  corrupted  in  the  Icng  enjoyment  of  uninter- 
rupted prosperity.  Indeed,  so  relaxed  were  the  morals 
of  the  court,  as  well  as  of  the  clergy,  and  so  enervated 
had  all  classes  become  in  the  general  diffusion  of  luxury, 

9  The  lot  of  the  Visigothic  slave  was  sufficiently  hard.  The  oppres- 
sions which  this  unhappy  race  endured  were  such  as  to  lead  Mr. 
Southey,  in  his  excellent  Introduction  to  the  "  Chronicle  of  the  Cid," 
to  impute  to  their  co-operation,  in  part,  the  easy  conquest  of  the  country 
by  the  Arabs.  But  although  the  laws  in  relation  to  them  seem  to  be 
taken  up  with  determining  their  incapacities  rather  than  their  privileges, 
it  is  probable  that  they  secured  to  them,  on  the  whole,  quite  as  great  a 
degree  of  civil  consequence  as  was  enjoyed  by  similar  classes  in  the 
rest  of  Europe.  By  the  Fuero  Juzgo,  the  slave  was  allowed  to  acquire 
property  for  himself,  and  with  it  to  purchase  his  own  redemption. 
(Lib.  s,  tit.  4,  ley  i6.)  A  certain  proportion  of  every  man's  slaves  were 
also  required  to  bear  arms,  and  to  accompany  their  master  to  the  field. 
(Lib.  9,  tit.  2,  ley  8.)  But  their  relative  rank  is  better  ascertained  by 
the  amount  of  composition  (that  accurate  measurement  of  civil  rights 
with  all  the  barbarians  of  the  north)  prescribed  for  any  personal  vio- 
lence inflicted  on  them.  Thus,  by  the  Salic  law,  the  life  of  a  free 
Roman  was  estimated  at  only  one-fifth  of  that  of  a  Frank  (Lex  Salica, 
tit.  43,  sec.  I,  8) ;  while,  by  the  law  of  the  Visigoths,  the  hfe  of  a  slave 
was  valued  at  half  of  that  of  a  freeman  (lib.  6,  tit.  4,  ley  i).  In  the 
latter  code,  moreover,  the  master  was  prohibited,  under  the  severe 
penalties  of  banishment  and  sequestration  of  property,  from  either 
murdering  or  maiming  his  own  slave  (lib.  6,  tit.  5,  leyes  12, 13) ;  while, 
in  other  codes  of  the  barbarians,  the  penalty  was  confined  to  similar 
trespasses  on  the  slaves  of  anothei  ;  and,  by  the  Salic  law,  no  higher 
mulct  was  imposed  for  killing  than  for  kidnappiiig  a  slave.  (Lex 
Salica,  tit.  11,  sec.  i,  3.)  The  legislation  of  th'  Visigoths,  in  those  par- 
ticulars, seems  to  have  regarded  this  unhappy  race  as  not  merely  a 
distinct  species  of  property.  It  provided  for  their  personal  security, 
instead  of  limiting  itself  to  the  indemnification  of  their  masters. 


"Tl^*-"-!  "'-"— 


CASTILE. 


that  some  authors  have  not  scrupled  to  refer  to  these 
causes  principally  the  perdition  of  the  Gothic  monarchy. 
An  entire  reformation  in  these  habits  was  necessarily 
effected  in  a  situation  where  a  scanty  subsistence  could 
only  be  earned  by  a  life  of  extreme  temperance  and 
toil,  and  where  it  was  often  to  be  sought,  sword  in 
hand,  from  an  enemy  far  superior  in  numbers.  What- 
ever may  have  been  the  vices  of  the  Spaniards,  they 
cannot  have  been  those  of  effeminate  sloth.  Thus  a 
sober,  hardy,  and  independent  race  was  gradually 
formed,  prepared  to  assert  their  ancient  inheritance, 
and  i^  lay  the  foundations  of  far  more  liberal  and 
equitable  forms  of  government  than  were  known  to 
their  ancestors. 

At  first  their  progress  was  slow  and  almost  impercep- 
tible. The  Saracens,  indeed,  reposing  under  the  sunny 
skies  of  Andalusia,  so  congenial  with  their  own,  seemed 
willing  to  relinquish  the  sterile  regions  of  the  north  to 
an  enemy  whom  they  despised.  But,  when  the  Span- 
iards, quitting  the  shelter  of  their  mountains,  descended 
into  the  open  plains  of  Leon  and  Castile,  they  found 
themselves  exposed  to  the  predatory  incursions  of  the 
Arab  cavalry,  who,  sweeping  over  the  face  of  the  coun- 
try, carried  off  in  a  single  foray  the  hard-earned  pro- 
duce of  a  summer's  toil.  It  was  not  until  they  had 
reached  some  natural  boundary,  as  the  river  Douro  or 
the  chain  of  the  Guadarraraa,  that  they  were  enabled, 
by  constructing  a  line  of  fortifications  along  these  prim- 
itive bulwarks,  to  secure  their  conquests,  and  oppose 
an  effectual  resistance  to  the  destructive  inroads  of  their 
enemies. 

Their  own  dissensions  were  another  cause  of  their 


i        !l 


I  I      1 


lO 


INTRODUCTION. 


tardy  progress.  The  numerous  petty  states,  which  rose 
from  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  monarchy,  seemed  to  re- 
gard each  other  with  even  a  fiercer  hatred  than  that 
with  which  they  viewed  the  enemies  of  their  faith ;  a 
circumstance  that  more  than  once  brought  the  nation 
to  the  verge  of  ruin.  More  Christian  blood  was  wasted 
in  these  national  feuds  than  in  all  their  encounters  with 
the  infidel.  The  soldiers  of  Fernan  Gonzalez,  a  chief- 
tain of  the  tenth  century,  complained  that  their  master 
made  them  lead  the  life  of  very  devils,  keeping  them  in 
the  harness  day  and  night,  in  wars,  not  against  the  Sar- 
acens, but  one  another.*" 

These  circumstances  so  far  palsied  the  arm  of  the 
Christians,  that  a  century  and  a  half  elapsed  after  the 
invasion  before  they  had  penetrated  to  the  Douro," 
and  nearly  thrice  that  period  before  they  had  advanced 
the  line  of  conquest  to  the  Tagus,"  notwithstanding 
this  portion  of  the  country  had  been  comparatively  de- 
serted by  the  Mahometans.  But  it  was  easy  to  foresee 
that  a  people,  living,  as  they  did,  under  circumstances 
so  well  adapted  to  the  development  of  both  physical 
and  moral  energy,  must  ultimately  prevail  over  a  nation 
oppressed  by  despotism  and  the  effeminate  indulgence 
to  which  it  was  naturally  disposed  by  a  sensual  religion 
and  a  voluptuous  climate.  In  truth,  the  early  Spaniard 
was  urged  by  every  motive  that  can  give  efficacy  to 
human  purpose.  Pent  up  in  his  barren  mountains,  he 
beheld  the  pleasant  valleys  and  fruitful  vineyards  of  his 

"  Coronica  general,  part.  3,  fol.  54. 

"  According  to  Morales  (Coronica,  lib.  13,  cap.  57)1  this  took  place 
about  850. 

"  Toledo  was  not  reconquered  until  1085;  Lisbon,  in  1147. 


CASTILE. 


II 


ancestors  delivered  over  to  the  spoiler,  the  holy  places 
polluted  by  his  abominable  rites,  and  the  crescent  glit- 
tering on  the  domes  which  were  once  consecrated  by 
the  venerated  symbol  of  his  faith.  His  cause  became 
the  cause  of  Heaven.  The  church  published  her  bulls 
of  crusade,  offering  liberal  indulgences  to  those  who 
served,  and  Paradise  to  those  who  fell,  in  battle  against 
the  infidel.  The  ancient  Castilian  was  remarkable  for  his 
independent  resistance  of  papal  encroachment ;  but  the 
peculiarity  of  his  situation  subjected  him  in  an  uncom- 
mon degree  to  ecclesiastical  influence  at  home.  Priests 
mingled  in  tbe  <"ouncil  and  the  camp,  and,  arrayed  in 
their  sacerdol'i  bvs,  not  unfrequently  led  the  armies 
to  battle. '3  T'  >  :  terpreted  the  will  of  Heaven  as 
mysteriously  revealed  in  dreams  and  visions.  Miracles 
were  a  familiar  occurrence.  The  violated  tombs  of  the 
saints  sent  forth  thunders  and  lightnings  to  consume 
the  invaders ;  and,  when  the  Christians  fainted  in  the 
fight,  the  apparition  of  their  patron,  St.  James,  mounted 
on  a  milk-white  steed,  and  bearing  aloft  the  banner  of 
the  Cross,  was  seen  hovering  in  the  air,  to  rally  their 
broken  squadrons  and  lead  them  on  to  victory.'*   Thus 

'3  The  archbishops  of  Toledo,  whose  revenues  and  retinues  far  ex- 
ceeded those  of  the  other  ecclesiastics,  were  particularly  conspicuous 
m  these  holy  wars.  Mariana,  speaking  of  one  of  these  belligerent  pre- 
lates, considers  it  worthy  of  encomium  that  "it  is  not  easy  to  decide 
-whether  he  was  most  conspicuous  for  his  good  government  in  peace, 
or  his  conduct  and  valor  in  war."     Hist,  de  Espana,  tom.  ii.  p.  14. 

'4  The  first  occasion  on  which  the  military  apostle  condescended  to 
reveal  himself  to  the  Leonese  was  the  memorable  day  of  Clavijo,  A.D. 
8  ^4,  when  70,000  infidels  fell  on  the  field.  From  that  time,  the  name 
of  St.  Jago  became  the  batde-cry  of  the  Spaniards.  The  truth  of  the 
story  is  attested  by  a  contemporary  charter  of  Ramiro  I.  to  the  churcK 
of  the  saint,  granting  it  an  annual  tribute  of  corn  and  wine  from  the 


12 


INTR  OD  UCTION. 


the  Spaniard  looked  upon  himself  as  in  a  peculiar  man- 
ner the  care  of  Providence.  For  him  the  laws  of  nature 
were  suspended.  He  was  a  soldier  of  the  Cross,  fight- 
ing not  only  for  his  country,  but  for  Christendom.  In- 
deed, volunteers  from  the  remotest  parts  of  Christen- 
dom eagerly  thronged  to  serve  under  his  banner ;  and 
the  cause  of  religion  was  debated  with  the  same  ardor 
in  Spain  as  on  the  plains  of  Palestine. '^  Hence  the 
national  character  became  exalted  by  a  religious  fervor, 
which  in  later  days,  alas!  settled  into  a  fierce  fanati- 
cism. Hence  that  solicitude  for  the  purity  of  the  faith, 
the  peculiar  boast  of  the  Spaniards,  and  that  deep  tinge 

towns  in  his  dominions,  and  a  knight's  portion  of  the  spoils  of  every 
victory  over  the  Mussulmans.  The  privilegio  del  voto,  as  it  is  called, 
is  given  at  length  by  Florez  in  his  Collection  (Espaiia  sagrada,  torn, 
xix.  p.  329),  and  is  unhesitatingly  cited  by  most  of  the  Spanish  his- 
torians, as  Garibay,  Mariana,  Morales,  and  others.—  More  sharp-sighted 
critics  discover,  in.  its  anachronisms  and  other  palpable  blunders,  ample 
evidence  of  its  forgery.  (Mondejar,  Advertencias  d  la  Historia  de 
Mariana  (Valencia,  1746),  no.  157, — Masdeu,  Historia  critica  de  Es- 
paiia y  de  la  Cultura  Espaiiola  (Madrid,  1783-1805),  torn.  xvl.  supl. 
I,  8.)  The  canons  of  Compostella,  however,  seem  to  have  found  their 
account  in  it,  as  the  tribute  of  good  cheer,  which  it  imposed,  continued 
to  be  paid  by  some  of  the  Castilian  towns,  according  to  Mariana ,  in  his 
day.     Hist,  de  Espaiia,  tom.  i.  p.  416. 

'S  French,  Flemish,  Italian,  and  English  volunteers,  led  by  men  of 
distinguished  rank,  are  recorded  by  the  Spanish  writers  to  have  been 
present  at  the  sieges  of  Toledo,  Lisbon,  Algeziras,  and  various  others. 
More  than  sixty  thousand,  or,  as  some  accounts  state,  a  hundred  thou- 
sand, joined  the  army  before  the  battle  of  Navas  de  Tolosa ;  a  round 
exaggeration,  which,  however,  implies  the  great  number  of  such  auxilia- 
ries. (Garibay,  Compendio  historial  de  las  Chronicas  de  Espaiia  (Barce- 
lona, 1628),  lib.  12,  cap.  33.)  The  crusades  m  Spain  were  as  rational 
enterprises  as  those  in  the  East  were  vain  and  chimerical.  Pope  Pascal 
H.  acted  like  a  man  of  sense  when  he  sent  back  certain  Spanish  adven- 
turers who  had  embarked  in  the  wars  of  Palestine,  telling  them  that 
"the  cause  of  religion  could  be  much  better  served  by  them  at  home." 


CASTILE. 


n 


of  superstition,  for  which  they  have  ever  been  distin- 
guisiied  among  the  nations  of  Europe. 

The  long  wars  with  the  Mahometans  served  to  keep 
alive  in  their  bosoms  the  ardent  glow  of  patriotism ; 
and  this  was  still  further  heightened  by  the  body  of  tra- 
ditional minstrelsy  which  commemorated  the  heroic 
deeds  performed  in  these  wars.  The  influence  of 
such  popular  compositions  on  a  simple  people  is  unde- 
niable. A  sagacious  critic  ventures  to  pronounce  the 
poems  of  Homer  the  principal  bond  which  united  the 
Grecian  states.'*  Such  an  opinion  may  be  deemed 
somewhat  extravagant.  It  cannot  be  doubted,  how- 
ever, that  a  poem  like  that  of  the  *'  Cid,"  which  ap- 
peared as  early  as  the  twelfth  century,'^  by  calling  up 

'fi  See  Heeren,  Politics  of  Ancient  Greece,  translated  by  Bancroft, 
chap.  7. 

'7  The  oldest  manuscript  extant  of  this  poem  (still  preserved  at  Bivar, 
the  hero's  birthplace)  bears  the  date  of  1207,  or  at  latest  1307,  far  there 
is  aome  obscurity  in  the  writing.  Its  learned  editor,  Sanchez,  has  been 
led  by  the  peculiarities  of  its  orthography,  metre,  and  idiom,  to  refer 
its  composition  to  as  early  a  date  as  1153.  (Coleccion  de  Poesias  Cas- 
tellanas  anteriores  al  Siglo  XV.  (Madrid,  1779-go),  torn.  i.  p.  223.) 
Some  of  the  later  Spanish  antiquaries  have  manifested  a  skepticism  in 
relation  to  the  "  Cid,"  truly  alarming.  A  volume  was  published  at 
Madrid,  in  1792,  by  Risco,  under  the  title  of  "Castilla,  6  Historia  de 
Rodrigo  Diaz,"  etc.,  which  the  worthy  father  ushered  into  the  world, 
with  much  solemnity,  as  a  transcript  of  an  original  manuscript  coeval 
with  the  time  of  the  "  Cid,"  and  fortunately  discovered  by  him  in  an 
obscure  corner  of  some  Leonese  monastery.  (Prologo.)  Masdeu,  in 
an  analysis  of  this  precious  document,  has  been  led  to  scrutinize  the 
grounds  on  which  the  reputed  achievements  of  the  "  Cid"  h^ive  rested 
from  time  immemorial,  and  concludes  with  the  startling  assertion  that 
"of  Rodrigo  Diaz,  el  Campeador,  we  absolutely  know  nothing,  with 
any  degree  of  probability,  not  even  his  existence!"  (Hist,  critica, 
torn.  XX.  p.  370.)  There  are  probably  few  of  his  countrymen  who  will 
thus  coolly  acquiesce  in  the  annihilation  of  their  favorite  hero,  whose 


M 


INTRODUCTION. 


ill 


the  most  inspiring  national  recollections  in  connection 
with  their  favorite  hero,  must  have  operated  powerfully 
on  the  moral  sensibilities  of  the  people. 

It  is  pleasing  to  observe,  in  the  cordial  spirit  of  these 
early  effusions,  little  of  the  ferocious  bigotry  which 
sullied  the  character  of  the  nation  in  after-ages.'*  The 
Mahometans  of  this  period  far  excelled  their  enemies 
in  general  refinement,  and  had  cjirried  some  branches 
of  intellectual  culture  to  a  height  scarcely  surpassed  by 
Europeans  in  later  times.  The  Christians,  therefore, 
notwithstanding  their  political  aversion  to  the  Saracens, 
conceded  to  them  a  degree  of  respect,  which  subsided 
into  feelings  of  a  very  different  complexion  as  they 
themselves  rose  in  the  scale  of  civilization.    This  senti- 

exploits  have  been  the  burden  of  chronicle,  as  well  as  romance,  from 
the  twelfth  century  down  to  the  present  day.  They  may  find  a  warrant 
for  their  fond  credulity,  in  the  dispassionate  judgment  of  one  of  the 
greatest  of  modern  historians,  John  Miiller,  who,  far  from  doubting 
the  existence  of  the  Campeador,  has  succeeded,  in  his  own  opinion  at 
least,  in  clearing  from  his  history  the  "  mists  of  fable  and  extravagance" 
in  which  it  had  been  shrouded.  See  his  Life  of  the  Cid,  appended  to 
Escobar's  "  Romancero,"  edited  by  the  learned  and  estimable  Dr.  Julius, 
of  Berlin.     Frankfort,  1828. 

18  A  modern  minstrel  inveighs  loudly  against  this  charity  of  his  ances- 
tors, who  devoted  their  "cantos  de  cigarra"  to  the  glorification  of  the 
"  Moorish  rabble,"  instead  of  celebrating  the  prowess  of  the  Cid,  Ber- 
nardo, and  other  worthies  of  their  own  nation.     His  discourtesy,  how-' 
ever,  is  well  rebuked  by  a  more  generous  brother  of  the  craft  : 

"  No  es  culpa  si  de  los  Moros 
los  valientes  heclios  cnntan. 
piles  tanto  mas  resplandecen 
luiestras  celebres  hazai^as ; 
que  el  eiicarecer  los  hechos 
del  vencido  en  la  batnlla, 
engrandece  al  vencedor, 
aunque  no  liablen  de  el  palabra." 
Duran,  Romancero  de  Romances  Moriscos  (Madrid,  1S2S),  p.  337. 


CASTILE. 


IS 


ment  of  respect  tempered  the  ferocity  of  a  warfare 
which,  although  sufficiently  disastrous  in  its  details, 
affords  examples  of  a  generous  courtesy  that  would  do 
honor  to  the  politest  ages  of  Europe.'*  The  Spanish 
Arabs  were  accomplished  in  all  knightly  exercises,  anc 
their  natural  fondness  for  magnificence,  which  shed  a 
lustre  over  the  rugged  features  of  chivalry,  easily  com- 
municated itself  to  the  Christian  cavaliers.  In  the  in- 
tervals of  pea(  e,  these  latter  frequented  the  courts  of 
the  Moorish  princes,  and  mingled  with  their  adversaries 
in  the  comparatively  peaceful  pleasures  of  the  tourney, 
as  in  war  they  vied  with  them  in  feats  of  Quixotic  gal- 
lantry." 

•9  When  the  empress  queen  of  Alfonso  VII.  was  besieged  in  the  cas- 
tle of  Azeca,  in  1139,  she  reproached  the  Moslem  cavaliers  for  their 
want  of  courtesy  and  courage  in  attacking  a  fortress  defended  by  a 
female.  They  acknowledged  the  justice  of  the  rebuke,  and  only  re- 
quested that  she  would  condescend  to  show  herself  to  them  from  her 
palace;  when  the  Moorish  chivalry,  after  paying  their  obeisance  to  her 
in  the  most  respectful  manner,  instantly  raised  the  siege,  and  departed. 
(Ferrei-as,  Histoire  generale  d'Espagne,  traduitepard'Hermilly  (Paris, 
1742-51),  tom.  iii.  p.  410.)  It  was  a  frequent  occurrence  to  restore  a 
noble  captive  to  liberty  without  ransom,  and  even  with  costly  presents. 
Thus  Alfonso  XI.  sent  back  to  their  father  two  daughters  of  a  Moorish 
prince,  who  formed  part  of  the  spoils  of  the  battle  of  Tarifa.  (Mariana, 
Hist,  de  Espafia,  tom.  ii.  p.  32.)  When  this  same  Castilian  sovereign, 
after  a  career  of  almost  uninterrupted  victory  over  the  Moslems,  died 
of  the  plague  before  Gibraltar,  in  1350,  the  knights  of  Granada  put  on 
.ui.  -rning  for  him,  saying  that  "he  was  a  noble  prince  and  one  that 
knew  how  to  honor  his  enemies  as  well  as  his  friends."  Conde,  Domi- 
nacion  de  los  Arabes,  tom.  iii.  p.  149. 

^  One  of  the  most  extraordinary  achievements  in  this  way  was  that 
of  the  grand  master  of  Alcantara,  in  1394,  who,  after  ineffectually  chal- 
lenging the  king  of  Granada  to  meet  him  in  single  combat,  or  with  a 
force  double  that  of  his  own,  marched  boldly  up  to  the  gates  of  his 
capital,  where  he  was  assailed  by  such  an  overwhelming  host  that  he 


i6 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  nature  of  this  warfare  between  two  nations,  in- 
habitants of  the  same  country,  yet  so  dissimilar  ^n  their 
religious  and  social  institutions  as  to  be  almost  the 
natural  enemies  of  each  other,  was  extremely  favorable 
to  the  exhibition  of  the  characteristic  virtues  of  chiv- 
alry. The  contiguity  of  the  hostile  parties  afforded 
abundant  opportunities  for  personal  rencounter  and 
bold  romantic  enterprise.  Each  nation  had  its  regular 
military  associations,  who  swore  to  devote  their  lives  to 
the  service  of  God  and  their  country,  in  perpetual  war 
against  the  infidel."  The  Spanish  knight  became  the 
t-ie  hero  of  romance,  wandering  over  his  own  land, 
and  even  into  the  remotest  climes,  in  quest  of  adven- 
tures ;  and,  as  late  as  the  fifteenth  century,  we  find  him 
in  the  courts  of  England  and  Burgundy,  doing  battle 
in  honor  of  his  mistress,  and  challenging  general  ad- 

with  all  his  little  band  perished  on  the  field.  (Mariana,  Hist,  de  Es- 
pana,  lib.  19,  cap.  3.)  It  was  over  this  worthy  compeer  of  Don  Quixote 
that  the  epitaph  was  inscribed,  "  Here  lies  one  who  never  knew  fear," 
which  led  Charles  V.  to  remark  to  one  of  his  courtiers  that  "  the  good 
knight  could  never  have  tried  to  snuif  a  candle  with  his  fingers." 

"  This  singular  fact,  of  the  existence  of  an  Arabic  military  order,  is 
recorded  by  Conde.  (Domipacion  de  los  Arabes,  tom.  i.  p.  619,  note.) 
The  brethren  were  distinguished  for  the  simplicity  of  their  attire,  and 
their  austere  and  frugal  habits.  They  were  stationed  on  the  Moorish 
marches,  and  were  bound  by  a  vow  of  perpetual  war  against  the  Chris- 
tian infidel.  As  their  existence  is  traced  as  far  back  as  1030,  they  may 
possibly  have  suggested  the  organization  of  similar  institutions  in 
Christendom,  which  they  preceded  by  a  century  at  least.  The  loyal 
historians  of  the  Spanish  military  orders,  it  is  true,  would  carry  that 
of  St.  Jago  as  far  back  as  the  time  of  Ramiro  I.,  in  the  ninth  century 
(Caro  de  Torres,  Historia  de  las  Ordenes  militares  de  Santiago,  Cala- 
trava  y  Alcantara  (Madrid,  1629),  fol.  2. — Rades  y  Andrada,  Chr6- 
nica  de  las  tres  Ordenes  y  Cavallerias  (Toledo,  1572),  fol.  4);  but 
less  prejudiced  critics,  as  Zurita  and  Mariana,  are  content  with  dating 
it  from  the  papal  bull  of  Alexander  HI.,  1175. 


-H'UriKJR'EBa 


CASTILE. 


»7 


miration  by  his  uncommon  personal  intrepidity."  This 
romantic  spirit  lingered  in  Castile  long  after  the  age  of 
chivalry  had  become  extinct  ir  aer  parts  of  Europe, 
continuing  to  nourish  itself  on  chose  illusions  of  fancy 
which  were  at  length  dispelled  by  the  caustic  satire  of 
Cervantes. 

Thus  patriotism,  religious  loyalty,  and  a  proud  sense 
of  independence,  founded  on  the  consciousness  of 
owing  their  possessions  to  their  personal  valor,  became 
characteristic  traits  of  the  Castilians  previously  to  the 
sixteenth  century,  when  the  oppressive  policy  and 
fanaticism  of  the  Austrian  dynasty  contrived  to  throw 
into  the  shade  these  generous  virtues.  Glimpses  of 
them,  however,  might  long  be  discerned  in  the  haughty 
bearing  of  the  Castilian  noble,  and  in  that  erect,  high- 
minded  peasantry,  whom  oppression  has  not  yet  been 
able  wholly  to  subdue. '^ 

"» In  one  of  the  Paston  letters  we  find  the  notice  of  a  Spanish 
knight  appearing  at  the  court  of  Henry  VI.,  "  wylh  a  Kercheff  of 
Plesaunce  iwrapped  aboute  hys  arme,  the  gwych  Knight,"  says  the 
writer,  "  wyl  renne  a  cours  wyth  a  sharpe  spare  for  his  sou'eyn  lady 
sake."  (Fenn,  Original  Letters  (1787),  vol.  i.  p.  6.)  The  practice  of 
using  sharp  spears,  instead  of  the  guarded  and  blunted  weapons  usual 
in  the  tournament,  seems  to  have  been  ahected  by  the  chivalrous 
nobles  of  Castile ;  many  of  whom  lost  their  lives  from  this  circum- 
stance, in  the  splendid  tourney  given  in  honor  of  the  nuptials  of  Blanche 
of  Navarre  and  Henry,  son  of  John  II.  (Cronica  de  D.  Juan  II. 
(Valencia,  1779),  p.  411.)  Monstrelet  records  the  adventures  of  a 
Spanish  cavalier,  who  "  travelled  all  the  way  to  the  court  of  Burgundy 
to  seek  honor  and  reverence"  by  his  feats  of  arms.  His  antagonist 
was  the  lord  of  Chargny;  on  the  second  day  they  fought  with 
battle-axes,  and  "  the  Castilian  attracted  general  admiration  by  his 
uncommon  daring  in  fighting  with  his  visor  up."  Chroniques  (Paris, 
1595).  torn.  ii.  p.  109. 

»3  The  Venetian  ambassador,  Navagiero,  speaking  of  the  manners 
Vol.  I.— 2 


i8 


introduction: 


To  the  extraordinary  position  in  which  the  nation 
was  placed  may  also  be  referred  the  liberal  forms  of  its 
political  institutions,  as  well  as  a  more  early  develop- 
ment of  them  than  took  place  in  other  countries  of 
Europe.  From  the  exposure  of  the  Castilian  towns  to 
the  predatory  incursions  of  the  Arabs,  it  became  neces- 
sary not  only  that  they  should  be  strongly  fortified, 
but  that  every  citizen  should  be  trained  to  bear  arms  in 
their  defence.  An  immense  increase  of  consequence 
was  given  to  the  burgesses,  who  thus  constituted  the 
most  effective  part  of  the  national  militia.  To  this 
circumstance,  as  well  as  to  the  policy  of  inviting  the 
settlement  of  frontier  places  by  the  grant  of  extraor- 
dinary privileges  to  the  inhabitants,  is  to  be  imputed 
the  early  date,  as  well  as  liberal  character,  of  the  char- 
ters of  community  in  Castile  and  Leon.**    These,  al- 

of  the  Castilian  nobles  in  Charles  V.'s  time,  remarks,  somewhat 
bluntly,  that,  "  if  their  power  were  equal  to  their  pride,  the  whole 
world  would  not  be  able  to  withstand  them."  Viaggio  fatto  in  Spagna 
et  in  Francia  (Vinegia,  1563),  fol.  10, 

»4  The  most  ancient  of  these  regular  charters  of  incorporation,  now 
extant,  was  granted  by  Alfonso  V.,  in  1020,  to  the  city  of  Leon  and 
its  territory.  (Marina  rejects  those  of  an  earlier  date,  adduced  by 
Asso  and  Manuel  and  other  writers.  Ensayo  hist6rico-critico  sobre 
la  antigua  Legislacion  de  Castilla  (Madrid,  1808),  pp.  80-82.)  It  pre- 
ceded, by  a  long  interval,  those  granted  to  the  burgesses  in  other 
parts  of  Europe,  with  the  exception,  perhaps,  of  Italy ;  where  several 
of  the  cities,  as  Milan,  Pavia,  and  Pisa,  seem  early  in  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury to  have  exercised  some  of  the  functions  of  independent  states. 
But  the  extent  of  municipal  immunities  conceded  to,  or  rather  assumed 
by,  the  Italian  cities  at  this  early  period,  is  very  equivocal ;  for  their 
indefatigable  antiquary  confesses  that  all,  or  nearly  all,  their  archives 
previous  to  the  time  of  Frederick  I.  (the  latter  part  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury) had  perished  amid  their  frequent  civil  convulsions.  (See  the 
bubject  in  detail,  in  Muratori,  Dissertazioni  sopra  le  AntichitJi  Italiane 
(Napoli,  1752),  dissert,  45.)    Acts  of  enfranchisement  became  frequent 


CASTILE. 


«9 


though  varying  a  good  deal  in  their  details,  generally 
conceded  to  the  citizens  the  right  of  electing  their  own 
magistrates  for  the  regulation  of  municifxil  affairs. 
Judges  wer'^  appointed  by  this  body  for  the  adminis- 
tration of  civil  and  criminal  law,  subject  to  an  appeal 
to  the  royal  tribunal.  No  person  could  be  affected  in 
life  or  property  except  by  a  decision  of  this  municipal 
court ;  and  no  cause,  while  pending  before  it,  could  be 
evoked  thence  into  the  superior  tribunal.  In  order  to 
secure  the  barriers  of  justice  more  effectually  against 
the  violence  of  power,  so  often  superior  to  law  in  an 
imperfect  state  of  society,  it  was  provided,  in  many  of 
the  charters,  that  no  nobles  should  be  permitted  to  ac- 
quire real  property  within  the  limits  of  the  community ; 
that  no  fortress  or  palace  should  be  erected  by  them 
there;  that  such  as  might  reside  within  its  territory 
should  be  subject  to  its  jurisdiction ;  and  that  any  vio- 
lence offered  by  them  to  its  inhabitants  might  be  forcibly 
resisted  with  impunity.  Ample  and  inalienable  funds 
were  provided  for  the  maintenance  of  the  municipal 
functionaries,  and  for  other  public  expenses.  A  large 
extent  of  circumjacent  country,  embracing  frequently 
many  towns  and  villages,  was  annexed  to  each  city,  with 
the  right  of  jurisdiction  over  it.  All  arbitrary  tallages 
were  commuted  for  a  certain  fixed  and  moderate  rent. 


in  Spain  during  the  eleventh  century.  Several  of  these  are  preserved, 
and  exhibit,  with  sufficient  precision,  the  nature  of  the  privileges  ac- 
corded to  the  inhabitants.  Robertson,  who  wrote  when  the  constitu- 
tional antiquities  of  Castile  had  been  but  slightly  investigated,  would 
seem,  therefore,  to  have  little  authority  for  deriving  the  establishment 
of  communities  from  Italy,  and  still  less  for  tracing  their  progress 
through  France  and  Germany  to  Spain.  See  his  History  of  the  Reign 
of  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  (London,  1796),  vol.  i.  pp.  29,  30. 


•0 


INTRODUCTION. 


An  officer  was  appointed  by  the  crown  to  reside  within 
each  community,  whose  province  it  was  to  superintend 
the  collection  of  this  tribute,  to  maintain  public  order, 
and  to  be  associated  with  the  magistrates  of  each  city 
in  the  command  of  the  forces  it  was  bound  to  contri- 
bute towards  the  national  defence.  Thus,  while  the 
inhabitants  of  the  great  towns  in  other  parts  of  Europe 
were  languishing  in  feudal  servitude,  the  members  of 
the  Castilian  corporations,  living  under  the  protection 
of  their  own  laws  and  magistrates  in  time  of  peace, 
and  commanded  by  their  own  officers  in  war,  were  in 
full  enjoyment  of  all  the  essential  rights  and  privileges 
of  freemen.  "* 

It  is  true  that  they  were  often  convulsed  by  intes- 
tine feuds;  that  the  laws  were  often  loosely  adminis- 
tered by  incompetent  judges ;  and  that  the  exercise  of 
so  many  important  prerogatives  of  independent  states 
inspired  them  with  feelings  of  independence,  which  led 
to  mutual  rivalry,  and  sometimes  to  open  collision. 
But,  with  all  this,  long  after  similar  immunities  in  the 
free  cities  of  other  countries,  as  Italy  for  example,"* 
had  been  sacrificed  to  the  violence  of  faction  or  the 
lust  of  power,  those  of  the  Castilian  cities  not  only  re- 
mained unimpaired,  but  seemed  to  acquire  additional 

»s  For  this  account  of  the  ancient  polity  of  the  Castilian  cities,  the 
reader  is  referred  to  Sempere,  Histoire  des  Cortes  d'Espagne  (Bor- 
deaux, 1815),  and  Marina's  valuable  works,  Ensayo  hist6rico-critico 
sobre  la  antigua  Legislacion  de  Castilla  (nos.  160-196),  and  Teorfa  de 
las  Cortes  (Madrid,  1813,  part.  2,  cap,  21-33),  where  the  meagre  out- 
line given  above  is  filled  up  with  copious  illustrations. 

=*  The  independence  of  the  Lombard  cities  had  been  sacrificed, 
according  to  the  admission  of  their  enthusiastic  historian,  about  the 
middle  of  the  thirteenth  century.  Sismondi,  Histoire  des  R^publiques 
Italiennes  du  Moyen-Age  (Paris,  18x8),  ch.  ao. 


CASTILE. 


31 


stability  with  age.     This  circumstance  is  chiefly  impu 
table  to  the  constancy  of  the  national  legislature,  which, 
until  the  voice  of  liberty  was  stifled  by  a  military  des- 
potism, was  ever  ready  to  interpose  its  protecting  arm 
in  defence  of  constitutional  rights. 

The  earliest  instance  on  record  of  popular  repre 
sentation  in  Castile  occurred  at  Burgos,  in  1169;' 
nearly  a  century  antecedent  to  the  celebrated  Leicester 
parliament.  Each  city  had  but  one  vote,  whatever 
might  be  the  number  of  its  representatives.  A  much 
greater  irregularity,  in  regard  to  the  number  of  cities 
required  to  send  deputies  to  cortes  on  different  occa- 
sions, prevailed  in  Castile,  than  ever  existed  in  Eng- 
land '*  though,  previously  to  the  fifteenth  century,  this 

»7  Or  in  1 160,  according  to  the  Cor6nica  general  (part.  4,  fol.  344, 
345),  where  the  fact  is  mentioned.  Mariana  refers  this  celebration  of 
cortes  to  1170  (Hist,  de  Espafta,  lib.  11,  cap.  2);  but  Ferreras,  who 
often  rectifies  the  chronological  inaccuracies  of  his  predecessor,  fixes 
it  in  1169.  (Hist.  d'Espagne,  torn.  iii.  p.  484.)  Neither  of  these  authors 
notices  the  presence  of  the  commons  in  this  assembly ;  although  the 
phrase  used  by  the  Chronicle,  los  cibdadanos,  is  perfectly  unequivocal. 

»8  Capmany,  Prdctica  y  Estilo  de  celebrar  Cortes  en  Aragon,  Cata- 
lufla  y  Valencia  (Madrid,  1821),  pp.  230,  231. — Whether  the  convo- 
cation of  the  third  estate  to  the  national  councils  proceeded  from  p'  'i'.'c 
calculation  in  the  sovereign,  or  was  in  a  manner  forced  on  him  bv  il^: 
growing  power  and  importance  of  the  cities,  it  is  now  too  late  to  in- 
quire. It  is  nearly  as  difficult  to  settle  on  wliat  principles  the  selection 
of  cities  to  be  represented  depended.  Marina  asserts  that  evi  iv  great 
town  and  community  was  entitled  to  a  seat  in  the  legislature,  from  the 
time  of  receiving  its  municipal  charter  from  ihe  sovereign  ^  Feoria,  torn, 
i.  p.  138);  and  Sempere  agrees  that  this  right  became  general,  from 
the  first,  to  all  who  chose  to  avail  themsel  os  of  it.  (Histoire  des 
Cortis,  p.  56.)  The  right,  probably,  was  not  much  insisted  on  by  the 
smaller  and  poorer  places,  which,  from  the  charges  it  involved,  felt  it 
often,  no  doubt,  less  of  a  boon  than  a  burden.  This,  we  know,  was 
the  case  in  England. 


33 


INTRODUCTION. 


:il 
i 


:■'  I 


does  not  seem  to  have  proceeded  from  any  design  of 
infringing  on  the  liberties  of  the  people.  The  nomi- 
nation of  these  was  originally  vested  in  the  householders 
at  large,  but  was  afterwards  confined  to  the  municipali- 
ties,— a  most  mischievous  alteration,  which  subjected 
their  election  eventually  to  the  corrupt  influence  of  the 
crown."  They  assembled  in  the  same  chamber  with 
the  higher  orders  of  the  nobility  and  clergy,  but,  on 
questions  of  moment,  retired  to  deliberate  by  them- 
selves.3°  After  the  transaction  of  other  business,  their 
own  petitions  were  presented  to  the  sovereign,  and  his 
assent  gave  them  the  validity  of  laws.  The  Castilian 
commons,  by  neglecting  to  make  their  money  grants 
depend  on  corresponding  concessions  from  the  crown, 
relinquished  that  powerful  check  on  its  operations  so 
beneficially  exerted  in  the  British  parliament,  but  in 
vain  contended  for  even  there,  till  a  much  later  period 
than  that  now  under  consideration.  Whatever  may 
have  been  the  right  of  the  nobility  and  clergy  to  attend 
in  cortes,  their  sanction  was  not  deemed  essential  to 
the  validity  of  legislative  acts ;''  for  their  presence  was 

=9  It  was  an  evil  of  scarcely  less  magnitude,  that  contested  elections 
were  settled  by  the  crown.  (Capmany,  Prdctica  y  Estilo,  p.  231.)  The 
latter  practice,  and,  indeed,  the  former  to  a  certain  extent,  is  to  be  met 
with  in  English  history. 

30  Marina  leaves  this  point  in  some  obscurity.  (Teoria,  tom.  i.  cap. 
23.)  Indeed,  there  seems  to  have  been  some  irregularity  in  the  par- 
liamentary usages  themselves.  From  minutes  of  a  meeting  of  cortes 
at  Toledo  in  1538,  too  soon  for  any  material  innovation  on  the  ancient 
practice,  we  find  the  three  estates  sitting  in  separate  chambers,  from 
the  very  commencement  to  the  close  of  the  session.  See  the  account 
drawn  up  by  the  count  of  Corufia,  apud  Capmany,  Prdctica  y  Estilo, 
pp.  240  et  seq. 

1'  This,  however,  so  contrary  to  the  analogy  of  other  European  gov- 


CASTILE. 


as 


ant 

)V- 


not  even  required  in  many  assemblies  of  the  nation 
which  occurred  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centu- 
ries.** The  extraordinary  power  thus  committed  to  the 
commons  was,  on  the  whole,  unfavorable  to  their 
liberties.  It  deprived  them  of  the  sympathy  and  co- 
operation of  the  great  orders  of  the  state,  whose  autho- 
rity alone  could  have  enabled  them  to  withstand  the 
encroachments  of  arbitrary  power,  and  who,  in  fact, 
did  eventually  desert  them  in  their  utmost  need.^ 

But,  notwithstanding  these  defects,  the  popular  branch 
of  the  Castilian  cortes,  very  soon  after  its  admission  into 
that  body,  assumed  functions  and  exercised  a  degree 
of  power  on  the  whole  superior  to  what  it  acquired  in 
other  European  legislatures.  It  was  soon  recognized 
as  a  fundamental  principle  of  the  constitution,  that  no 
tax  could  be  imposed  without  its  consent  \^  and  an  ex- 

emments,  is  expressly  contradicted  by  the  declaration  of  the  nobles  at 
the  cortes  of  Toledo  in  1538  :  "  Oida  esta  respuesta  se  dijo,  que  pues 
S.  M.  habia  dicho  que  no  eran  Cortes  ni  habia  Brazos,  no  podian  tratar 
cosa  alguna,  que  eiios  sin  procuradores,  y  los  procuradores  sin  ellos,  no 
seria  valido  lo  que  hici^ren."  Relacion  dtl  Conde  de  Coruna,  apud 
Capmany,  Practica  y  Estilo,  p.  247. 

32  This  omission  of  the  privileged  orders  was  almost  uniform  under 
Charles  V.  and  his  successors.  But  it  would  be  unfair  to  seek  for  con- 
stitutional precedent  in  the  istiges  of  a  government  whose  avowed 
policy  was  altogether  subversivf;  of  the  constitution. 

33  During  the  famous  war  of  the  Comnnidades,  under  Charles  V.  For 
the  preceding  paragraph  consult  Marina  (Teoria,  part.  i.  cap.  10,  20, 
26,  29),  and  Capmany  (PrActica  y  Estilo,  pp.  220-250).  The  munici- 
palities of  Castile  seem  to  have  reposed  but  a  very  limited  confidence 
in  their  delegates,  whom  they  furnished  with  instructions  to  which  they 
were  bound  to  conform  themselves  literally.  See  Marina,  Teoria,  part. 
I.  cap.  23. 

34  The  term  "  fundamental  principle"  is  fully  autliorized  by  the  ex- 
istence of  repeated  enactments  to  this  effect.  Sempere,  who  admits 
the  "usage,"  objects  to  the  phrase  "fundamental  law,"  on  the  ground 


24 


INTRODUCTION. 


press  enactment  to  this  effect  was  suffered  to  remain  on 
the  statute-book  after  it  had  become  a  dead  letter,  as 
if  to  remind  the  nation  of  the  liberties  it  had  lost.^s 
The  commons  showed  a  wise  solicitude  in  regard  to 
the  mode  of  collecting  the  public  revenue,  oftentimes 
more  onerous  to  the  subject  than  the  tax  itself.  They 
watched  carefully  over  its  appropriation  to  its  destined 
uses.  They  restrained  a  too  prodigal  expenditure,  and 
ventured  more  than  once  to  regulate  the  economy  of 
the  royal  household. 3*  They  kept  a  vigilant  eye  on 
the  conduct  of  public  officers,  as  well  as  on  the  right 
administration  of  justice,  and  commissions  were  ap- 
pointed at  their  suggestion  for  inquiring  into  its  abuses. 
They  entered  into  negotiation  for  alliances  with  foreign 
powers,  and,  by  determining  the  amount  of  supplies  for 
the  maintenance  of  troops  in  time  of  war,  preserved  a 

that  these  acts  were  specific,  not  general,  in  their  character.     Histoire 
des  Cortes,  p.  254. 

35  "  Los  Reyes  en  nuestros  Reynos  progenitores  establecieron  per 
leyes  y  ordenan9as  fechas  en  Cortes,  que  no  se  echassen,  ni  repartiessen 
ningunos  pechos,  seruicios,  pedidos,  ni  monedas,  ni  otros  tributes 
nueuos,  especial,  ni  generalmente  en  todos  nuestros  Reynos,  sin  que 
primeramente  scan  Uamados  d  Cortes  los  procuradores  de  todas  las 
Ciudades,  y  villas  de  nuestros  Reynos,  y  scan  otorgados  por  los  dichos 
procuradores  que  d  las  Cortes  vinieren."  (Recopilacion  de  las  Leyes 
(Madrid,  1640),  torn.  ii.  fol.  124.)  This  law,  passed  under  Alfonso  XL, 
was  confirmed  by  John  IL,  Henry  IIL,  and  Charles  V. 

36  In  1258,  they  presented  a  variety  of  petitions  to  the  king  in  rela- 
tion to  his  own  personal  expenditurp,  as  well  as  that  of  his  courtiers; 
requiring  him  to  diminish  the  charges  of  his  table,  attire,  etc.,  and, 
bluntly,  to  "bring  his  appetite  within  a  more  reasonable  compass;"  to 
all  which  he  readily  gave  his  assent.  (Sempere  y  Guarinos,  Historia 
del  Luxo  y  de  las  Leyes  suntuarias  de  Espana  (Madrid,  1788),  torn, 
i.  pp.  91,  92.)  The  English  reader  is  reminded  of  a  very  different  re- 
sult" which  attended  a  similar  interposition  of  the  commons  in  the  time 
of  Richard  IL,  more  than  a  century  later. 


MIM 


CASTILE. 


as 


salutary  check  over  military  operations.^'  The  nomi- 
nation of  regencies  was  subject  to  their  approbation, 
and  they  defined  the  nature  of  the  authority  to  be  in- 
trusted to  them.  Their  consent  was  esteemed  indis- 
pensable to  the  validity  of  a  title  to  the  crown,  and  this 
prerogative,  or  at  least  the  image  of  it,  has  continued 
to  survive  the  wreck  of  their  ancient  liberties.^^  Finally, 
they  more  than  once  set  aside  the  testamentary  provi- 
sions of  the  sovereigns  in  regard  to  the  succession.* 

Without  going  further  into  detail,  enough  has  been 
said  to  show  the  high  powers  claimed  by  the  commons 
previously  to  the  fifteenth  century,  which,  instead  of 
being  confined  to  ordinary  subjects  of  legislation,  seem, 
in  some  instances,  to  have  reached  to  the  executive 
duties  of  the  administration.  It  would,  indeed,  show 
but  little  acquaintance  with  the  social  condition  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  to  suppose  that  the  practical  exercise  of 
these  powers  always  corresponded  with  their  theory. 
We  trace  repeated  instances,  it  is  true,  in  which  they 


rela- 
•tiers ; 
and, 
to 
storia 
torn. 
It  re- 
time 


37  Marina  claims  also  the  right  of  the  cortes  to  be  consulted  on  ques- 
tions of  war  and  peace,  of  which  he  adduces  several  precedents.  (Teoria, 
part.  2,  cap.  19,  20.)  Their  interference  in  what  is  so  generally  held  the 
peculiar  province  of  the  executive  was  perhaps  encouraged  by  the 
sovereign,  with  the  politic  design  of  relieving  himself  of  the  responsi- 
bility of  measures  whose  success  must  depend  eventually  on  their  sup- 
p  It.  Hallam  notices  a  similar  policy  of  the  crown,  under  Edward  III., 
in  his  view  of  the  English  constitution  during  the  Middle  Ages.  View 
of  the  State  of  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages  (London,  I19),  vol. 
iii.  chap.  8. 

38  The  recognition  of  the  title  of  the  heir  apparent,  by  a  cortes  con- 
volved for  that  purpose,  has  continued  to  be  observed  in  Castile  down 
to  the  present  time.     Practica  y  Estilo,  p.  229. 

39  For  the  preceding  notice  of  the  cortes,  see  Marina,  Teoria,  part. 
2,  cap.  13,  19,  20,  21,  31,  35,  37,  38. 


a6 


INTRODUCTION. 


I 


were  claimed  and  successfully  exerted  \  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  multiplicity  of  remedial  statutes  proves 
too  plainly  how  often  the  rights  of  the  people  were  in- 
vaded by  the  violence  of  the  privileged  orders,  or  the 
more  artful  and  systematic  usurpations  of  the  crown. 
But,  far  from  being  intimidated  by  such  acts,  the  rep- 
resentatives in  cortes  were  ever  ready  to  stand  forward 
as  the  intrepid  advocates  of  constitutional  freedom; 
and  the  unqualified  boldness  of  their  language  on  such 
occasions,  and  the  consequent  concessions  of  the  sov- 
ereign, are  satisfactory  evidence  of  the  real  extent  of 
their  power,  and  show  how  cordially  they  must  have 
been  supported  by  public  opinion. 

It  would  be  improper  to  pass  by  without  notice  an 
anomalous  institution  peculiar  to  Castile,  which  sought 
to  secure  the  public  tranquillity  by  means  scarcely  com- 
patible themselves  with  civil  subordination.  I  refer  to 
the  celebrated  Hermandad,  or  Holy  Brotherhood,  as 
the  association  was  sometimes  called, — a  name  familiar 
to  most  readers  in  the  lively  fictions  of  Le  Sage,  though 
conveying  there  no  very  adequate  idea  of  the  extraor- 
dinary functions  which  it  assumed  at  the  period  under 
review.  Instead  of  a  regularly  organized  police,  it 
then  consisted  of  a  confederation  of  the  principal 
cities,  bound  together  by  a  solemn  league  and  covenant 
for  the  defence  of  their  ^liberties  in  seasons  of  civil 
anarchy.  Its  afitiirs  were  conducted  by  deputies,  who 
assembled  at  stated  intervals  for  this  purpose,  trans- 
acting their  business  under  a  common  seal,  enacting 
laws  which  they  were  careful  to  transmit  to  the  nobles 
and  even  the  sovereign  himself,  and  enforcing  their 
measures  by  an  armed  force.     This  wild  kind  of  jus- 


CASTILE. 


87 


ing 
)les 


tice,  so  characteristic  of  an  unsettled  state  of  society,  re- 
peatedly received  the  legislative  sanction;  and,  however 
formidable  such  a  popular  engine  may  have  appeared  to 
the  eye  of  the  monarch,  he  was  often  led  to  countenance 
it  by  a  sense  of  his  o\  impotence,  as  well  as  of  the  over- 
weening power  of  the  obles,  against  whom  it  was  prin- 
cipally directed.  Hence  these  associations,  although  the 
epithet  may  seem  somewhat  overstrained,  have  received 
the  appellation  of  "  cortes  extraordinary."*' 

With  these  immunities,  the  cities  of  Castile  attained 
a  degree  of  opulence  and  splendor  unrivalled,  unless  in 
Italy,*  during  the  Middle  Ages.  At  a  very  early  period, 
indeed,  their  contact  with  the  Arabs  had  familiarized  the 
people  with  a  better  system  of  agriculture,  and  a  dexterity 
in  the  mechanic  arts  unknown  in  other  parts  of  Chris- 
tendom.*'    On  the  occupation  of  a  conquered  town, 

*>  So  at  least  they  are  styled  by  Marina.  See  his  account  of  these 
institutions  (Teoria,  part.  2,  cap.  39) ;  also  Salazar  de  Mendoza  (Mo- 
narquia,  lib.  3,  cap.  15, 16,  and  Scniperc  (Histoire  des  Cortfes,  chap.  13. 
13).  One  hundred  cities  associated  in  the  Hermandad  of  1315.  In 
that  of  129S,  were  thirty-four.  The  knights  arid  inferior  nobility  fre- 
quently made  part  of  the  association.  The  articles  of  confederation 
are  given  by  Risco,  in  his  continuation  of  Florez  (Espaiia  sagrada 
(Madrid,  1775-1826),  torn,  xxxvi.  p.  162).  In  one  of  these  articles  it 
is  declared  that  if  any  noble  shall  deprive  a  member  of  the  association 
of  his  property,  ai  I  refuse  restitution,  his  house  shall  be  razed  to  the 
ground.  (Art.  4.)  In  another,  that  if  any  one,  by  command  of  the 
king,  shall  attempt  to  collect  an  unlawful  tax,  he  shall  be  put  to  death 
on  the  spot.     Art.  9. 

♦>  See  Sempere,  Historia  del  Luxe,  \om.  i.  p.  97. — Masdeu,  Hist, 
critica,  torn.  xiii.  nos.  90,  91. — Gold  and  silver,  curiously  wrought  into 


*  [The  statement  needs  to  be  still  further  qualified.  There  could  be 
no  rivalry,  in  point  of  wealth,  between  the  Castilian  cities  and  the  cen- 
troj  ol  trade  and  manufacturing  industry  in  Italy  and  I'landcrs. — El).] 


a8 


INTRODUCTION. 


we  find  it  distributed  into  quarters  or  districts,  appro- 
priated to  the  several  crafts,  whose  members  were  incor- 
porated into  guilds,  under  the  regulation  of  magistrates 
and  by-laws  of  their  own  appointment.  Instead  of  the 
unworthy  disrepute  into  which  the  more  humble  occu- 
pations have  since  fallen  in  Spain,  they  were  fostered 
by  a  liberal  patronage,  and  their  professors  in  some 
instances  elevated  to  the  rank  of  knighthood. ♦"  The 
excellent  breed  of  sheep,  which  early  became  an  ob- 
ject of  legislative  solicitude,  furnished  them  with  an 
important  staple,  which,  together  with  the  simpler  man- 
ufactures and  the  various  products  of  a  prolific  soil, 
formed  the  materials  of  a  profitable  commerce.*^    Aug- 

plate,  were  exported  in  considerable  quantities  from  Spain  in  the  tenth 
and  eleventh  centuries.  They  were  much  used  i  the  churches. 
The  tiara  of  the  pope  was  so  richly  incrusted  with  the  p,  -::!Ous  metals, 
says  Masdeu,  as  to  receive  the  name  of  Spanoclista.  The  familiar  use 
of  these  metals  as  ornaments  of  dress  is  attested  by  the  ancient  poem 
of  the  "  Cid."  See,  in  particular,  the  description  of  the  costume  of 
the  Campeador ;  vv.  3099  et  seq. 

'Zufiiga,  Annales  eclesiasticos  y  seculares  de  Sevilla  (Madrid, 
'^^77^>  PP-  74i  75- — Sempere,  Historia  del  Luxo,  tom.  i.  p.  80. 

43  The  historian  of  Seville  describes  that  city,  about  the  middle  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  as  possessing  a  flourishing  commerce,  and  a  degree  of 
opulence  une.Kampled  since  the  conquest.  It  was  filled  with  an  active 
population,  employed  in  the  various  mechanic  arts.  Its  domestic 
fabrics,  as  well  as  natural  products  of  oil,  wine,  wool,  etc.,  supplied  a 
trade  with  France,  Flanders,  Italy,  and  England.  (Zuiiiga,  Annales  de 
Sevilla,  p.  341. — See  also  Sempere,  Historia  del  Luxo,  p.  81,  nota  2.) 
The  ports  of  Biscay,  which  belonged  to  the  Castilian  crown,  were  the 
marts  of  an  extensive  trade  with  the  north,  during  the  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  centuries.  This  province  entered  into  repeated  treaties  of 
commerce  with  France  and  England ;  and  her  factories  were  established 
at  Bruges,  the  great  emporium  of  commercial  intercourse  during  this 
period  between  the  north  and  south,  before  those  of  any  other  people 
in  Europe,  except  the  Germans.     (Diccionario  geogrdfico-historico 


CASTILE. 


29 


mentation  of  wealth  brought  with  it  the  usual  appetite 
for  expensive  pleasures;  and  the  popular  diffusion  of 
luxury  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  is  at- 
tested by  the  fashionable  invective  of  the  satirist,  and 
by  the  impotence  of  repeated  sumptuary  enactments.'** 

de  Espana,  por  la  Real  Academia  de  la  Historia  (Madrid,  1802),  torn. 

>•  P-  333-) 

The  institution  of  the  tnesta  is  referred,  says  Laborde  (Itin^raire 
descriptif  de  I'Espagne  (Paris,  1827-1830),  torn.  iv.  p.  47),  to  the 
middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  when  the  great  plague,  which  devas- 
tated the  country  so  sorely,  left  large  depopulated  tracts  open  to  pas- 
turage. This  popular  opinion  is  erroneous,  since  it  engaged  the  atten- 
tion of  government  and  became  the  subject  of  legislation  as  anciently 
as  1273,  under  Alfonso  the  Wise,  (See  Asso  y  Manuel,  Instituciones, 
Introd.  p.  56.)  Capmany,  however,  dato=  the  great  improvement  in 
the  breed  of  Spanisli  sheep  from  the  year  1394,  when  Catharine  of 
Lancaster  brought  with  her,  as  a  part  of  her  dowry  to  the  heir  appar- 
ent of  Castile,  a  flock  of  English  merinos,  distinguished  at  that  time 
above  those  of  every  other  country  for  the  beauty  and  delicacy  of 
thtir  fleece.  (Memorias  historicas  sobre  la  Marina,  Comercio  y 
Artes  de  Barcelona  (Madrid,  1779-1792),  tom.  iii.  pp.  336,  337.)  This 
acute  writer,  after  a  very  careful  examination  of  the  subject,  differing 
from  the  authorities  before  quoted,  considers  the  raw  material  for  man- 
ufacture, and  the  natural  productions  of  the  soil,  to  have  constituted 
almost  the  only  articles  of  export  from  Spain,  until  after  the  fifteenth 
century.  (Ibid.,  p.  338.)  We  will  remark,  in  conclusion  of  this  desul- 
tory note,  that  the  term  merinos  is  derived,  by  Conde,  from  moedinos, 
signifying  "wandering;"  the  name  of  an  Arabian  tribe,  who  shifted 
their  place  of  residence  with  the  season.  (Hist,  de  los  Arabes  en 
Espafia,  tom.  i.  p.  488,  nota.)  The  derivation  might  startle  any  but  a 
professed  etymologist. 

44  See  the  original  acts,  cited  bySempere.  (Historia  del  Luxo,  pas- 
sim.) The  archpriest  of  Hita  inveighs  freely  against  the  luxury, 
cupidity,  and  other  fashionable  sins  of  his  age.  (See  Sanchez,  Poesias 
Castellanas,  tom.  iv.) — The  influence  of  Mammon  appears  to  have 
been  as  supreme  in  the  fourteenth  century  as  at  any  later  period. 

"  Sea  un  ome  nescio,  et  nido  labrador, 
Los  dineros  le  fasen  fidalgo  e  sabidor. 


30 


INTRODUCTION. 


Much  of  this  superfluous  wealth,  however,  was  expended 
on  the  construction  of  useful  public  works.  Cities, 
from  which  the  nobles  had  once  been  so  jealously  ex- 
cluded, came  now  to  be  their  favorite  residence.** 
But,  while  their  sumptuous  edifices  and  splendid  reti- 
nues dazzled  the  eyes  of  the  peaceful  burghers,  their 
turbulent  spirit  was  preparing  the  way  for  those  dismal 
scenes  of  faction  which  convulsed  the  little  common- 
wealths to  their  centic  during  the  latter  half  of  the 
fifteenth  century. 

The  flourishing  condition  of  the  communities  gave 
their  representatives  a  proportional  increase  of  impor- 
tance in  the  national  assembly.  The  liberties  of  the 
people  seemed  to  take  deeper  root  in  the  midst  of  those 
political  convulsions,  so  frequent  in  Castile,  which  un- 
settled the  ancient  prerogatives  of  the  crown.  Every 
new  revolution  was  followed  by  new  concessions  on 
the  part  of  the  sovereign,  and  the  popular  authority 
continued  to  advance  with  a  steady  progress  until  the 
accession  of  Henry  the  Third  of  Trastamara,  in  1393, 
when  it  may  be  said  to  have  reached  its  zenith.  A 
disputed  title  and  a  disastrous  war  compelled  the  father 
of  this  prince,  John  the  First,  to  treat  the  commons 
with  a  deference  unknown  to  his  predecessors.  We 
find  four  of  their  number  admitted  into  his  privy 
council,  and  six  associated  in  the  regency,  to  which  he 
confided  the  government  of  the  kingdom  during  his 
son's  minority.**    A  remarkable  fact  which  occurred 

Quanto  mas  algo  tiene,  tanto  es  mas  de  valor, 

El  que  no  ha  dineros,  non  es  de  si  seiior." 

Vv.  465  et  seq. 

45  Marina,  Ensayo,  nos.  199, 297. — Zuftiga,  Annales  de  Sevilla,  p.  341. 

46  Marina,  Teoria,  part.  2,  cap.  28. — Mariana,  Hist,  de  Espafia,  lib. 


1 

i. 

i5; j;  ■ 

' 

iL 

CASTILE. 


3' 


in  this  reign,  showing  the  important  advances  made  by 
the  commons  in  political  estimation^  was  the  substi- 
tution of  the  sons  of  burgesses  for  an  equal  number  of 
those  of  the  nobility,  who  were  stipulated  to  be  de- 
livered as  hostages  for  the  fulfilment  of  a  treaty  with 
Portugal,  in  1393.*'  There  will  be  occasion  to  notice, 
in  the  first  chapter  of  this  History,  some  of  the  circum- 
stances which,  contributing  to  undermine  the  power  of 
the  commons,  prepared  the  way  for  the  eventual  sub- 
version of  the  constitution. 

The  peculiar  situation  of  Castile,  which  had  been  so 
favorable  to  popular  rights,  was  eminently  so  to  those 
of  the  aristocracy.  The  nobles,  embarked  with  their 
sovereign  in  the  same  common  enterprise  of  rescuing 
their  ancient  patrimony  from  its  invaders,  felt  entitled 
to  divide  with  him  the  spoils  of  victory.  Issuing  forth, 
at  the  head  of  their  own  retainers,  from  their  strong- 
holds or  castles  (the  great  number  of  which  was  origi- 
nally implied  in  the  name  of  the  country),^  they  were 
continually  enlarging  the  circuit  of  their  territories, 

18,  cap.  15. — The  admission  of  citizens  into  the  king's  council  would 
have  formed  a  most  important  epoch  for  the  commons,  had  they  not 
soon  been  replaced  by  jurisconsults,  whose  studies  and  sentiments 
inchned  them  less  to  the  popular  side  than  to  that  of  prerogative. 

47  Mariana,  Hist,  de  Esparia,  lib.  18,  cap.  17. 

*8  Castilla.  See  Salazar  de  Mendoza,  Monarqui'a,  torn.  i.  p.  loB. — 
Livy  mentions  the  great  number  of  these  towers  in  Spain  in  his  day : 
"  Multas  et  locis  altis  positas  turres  Hispania  habet."  (Lib.  22,  cap. 
19.) — A  castle  was  emblazoned  on  the  escutcheon  of  Castile,  as  far 
back  as  the  reign  of  Urraca,  in  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century, 
according  to  Salazar  de  Mendoza  (Monarquia,  torn.  i.  p.  142),  although 
Garibay  discerns  no  vestige  of  these  arms  on  any  instrument  of  a  much 
older  date  than  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century.  Compendio, 
lib.  12,  cap.  32. 


ii 


3« 


INrRODUCTIOlV. 


with  no  other  assistance  than  that  of  their  own  good 
swords.*'  This  independent  mode  of  effecting  their 
conquests  would  appear  unfavorable  to  the  introduction 
of  the  feudal  system,  which,  although  its  existence  in 
Castile  is  clearly  ascertained  by  positive  law  as  well  as 
usage,  never  prevailed  to  anything  like  the  same  extent 
as  it  did  in  the  sister  kingdom  of  Aragon,  and  other 
parts  of  Europe.** 

The  higher  nobility,  or  ricos  hombres^  were  exempted 
from  general  taxation ;  and  the  occasional  attempt  to 
infringe  on  this  privilege,  in  seasons  of  great  public 

49  "  Hizo  giierra  a  los  Moros, 
(lanaiulo  sus  furtalezas 

V  sus  villas. 

V  en  Ins  Itdes  que  venci6 
Caballeros  y  caballos 

Se  perdi^ron, 

V  en  este  oficio  gand 
Lax  rentas  y  los  vasallos 
Que  le  didroii." 

Coplas  de  Manrique,  copla  31. 

5°  Asso  and  Manuel  derive  the  introduction  of  fiefs  into  Castile,  from 
Catalonia.  (Instituciones,  p.  96.)  The  twenty-sixth  title,  part.  4,  of 
Alfonso  X.'s  code  (Siete  Partidas)  treats  exclusively  of  them.  (De 
los  Feudos.)  The  laws  2,  4,  5,  are  expressly  devoted  to  a  brief  ex- 
position of  the  nature  of  a  fief,  the  ceremonies  of  investiture,  and  the 
reciprocal  obligations  of  lord  and  vassal.  Those  of  the  latter  con- 
sisted in  keeping  his  lord's  counsel,  maintaining  his  interest,  and  aiding 
him  in  war.  With  all  this,  there  are  anomalies  in  this  code,  and  still 
more  in  the  usages  of  the  country,  not  easy  to  explain  on  the  usual 
principles  of  the  feudal  relation ;  a  circumstance  which  has  led  to 
much  discrepancy  of  opinion  on  the  subject  in  political  writers,  as  well 
as  to  some  inconsistency.  Sempere,  who  entertains  no  doubt  of  the 
establishment  of  feudal  institutions  in  Castile,  tells  us  that  "the  nobles, 
after  the  conquest,  succeeded  in  obtaining  an  exemption  from  mili- 
tary service," — one  of  the  most  conspicuous  and  essential  of  all  the 
feudal  relations.     Histoire  des  Cortfts,  pp.  30,  72,  249. 


A___ 


CASTILE. 


33 


emergency,  was  uniformly  repelled  by  this  jealous 
body. 5'  They  could  not  be  imprisoned  for  debt,  nor 
be  subjected  to  torture,  so  repeatedly  sanctioned  in 
other  cases  by  the  municipal  law  of  Castile.  They 
had  the  right  of  deciding  their  private  feuds  by  an 
appeal  to  arms ;  a  right  of  which  they  liberally  availed 
themselves.s"  They  also  claimed  the  privilege,  when 
aggrieved,  of  denaturalizing  themselves,  or,  in  other 
words,  of  publicly  renouncing  their  allegiance  to  their 
sovereign,  and  of  enlisting  under  the  banners  of  his 
enemy.s3  The  number  of  petty  states  which  swarmed 
over  the  Peninsula  afforded  ample  opportunity  for  the 
exercise  of  this  disorganizing  prerogative.  The  Laras 
are  particularly  noticed  by  Mariana  as  having  a  "great 
relish  for  rebellion,"  and  the  Castros  as  being  much  in 
the  habit  of  going  over  to  the  Moors.s*  They  assumed 
the  license  of  arraying  themselves  in  armed  confederacy 
against  the  monarch  on  any  occasion  of  popular  dis- 
gust, and  they  solemnized  the  act  by  the  most  imposing 
ceremonials  of  religion. ^^  Their  rights  of  jurisdiction, 
derived  to  thern,  it  would  seem,  originally  from  royal 

51  Asso  y  Manuel,  Instituciones,  p.  26. — Scmpere,  Histoire  des  Cor- 
tes, chap.  4. — The  incensed  nobles  quitted  the  cortes  in  disgust,  and 
threatened  to  vindicate  their  rights  by  arms,  on  one  such  occasion, 
1 176.  Mariana,  Hist,  de  Espana,  torn.  i.  p.  644.  See  also  torn.  ii.  p. 
176. 

52  I  idem  auctores,  ubi  supra. — Prieto  y  Sotelo,  Historia  del  Derecho 
real  de  Espana  (Madrid,  1738),  lib.  2,  cap.  23 ;  lib.  3,  cap.  8. 

53  Siete  Partidas  (ed.  de  la  Real  Acad.,  Madrid,  1807),  part.  4,  tit. 
25,  ley  II.  On  such  occasions  they  sent  him  a  formal  defiance  by 
their  king-at-arms.     Mariana,  Hist,  de  Espana,  torn.  i.  pp.  768,  912. 

54  Ibid.,  torn.  i.  pp.  707,  713. 

ss  The  forms  of  this  solemnity  may  be  found  in  Mariana,  Hist,  de 
Espafia,  torn.  i.  p.  907. 

Vol.  I.— 3  b« 


34 


r.WTKODUCrWN. 


grant,s*  were  in  a  great  measure  defeated  by  the  liberal 
charters  of  incorporation  which,  in  imitation  of  the 
sovereign,  they  conceded  to  their  vassals,  as  well  as  by 
the  gradual  encroachment  of  the  royal  judicatures.*' 
In  virtue  of  their  birth  they  monopolized  all  the  higher 
offices  of  state,  as  those  of  constable  and  admiral  of 
Castile,  adelantados  or  governors  of  the  provinces, 
cities,  etc.**  They  secured  to  themselves  the  grand- 
masterships  of  the  military  orders,  which  placed  at 
their  disposal  an  immense  amount  of  revenue  and 
patronage.  Finally,  they  entered  into  the  royal  or 
privy  council,  and  formed  a  constituent  portion  of  the 
national  legislature. 

These  important  prerogatives  were  of  course  favor- 
able to  the  accumulation  of  great  wealth.  Their  estates 
were  scattered  over  every  part  of  the  kingdom,  and, 
unlike  the  grandees  of  Spain  at  the  present  day,"  they 
resided  on  them  in  person,  maintaining  the  state  of 
petty  sovereigns,  and  surrounded  by  a  numerous  reti- 
nue, who  served  the  purposes  of  a  pageant  in  time 
of  peace  and  an  efficient  military  force  in  war.  The 
demesnes  of  John,  lord  of  Biscay,  confiscated  by  Al- 
fonso the  Eleventh  to  the  use  of  the  crown,  in  1327, 
amounted   to  more  than  eighty  towns  and  castles.** 

5*  Marina,  Ensayo,  p.  128. 

57  John  I.,  in  1390,  authorized  appeals  from  the  seignorial  tribunals 
to  those  of  the  crown.     Ibid.,  torn.  ii.  p.  179. 

58  The  nature  of  these  dignities  is  explained  in  Salazar  de  Mendoza, 
MonarquJa,  torn.  i.  pp.  155,  166,  203. 

59  From  the  scarcity  of  these  baronial  residences,  some  fanciful  ety- 
mologists have  derived  the  familiar  saying  of"  chateaux  en  Eispagne." 
See  Bourgoanne,  Travels  in  Spain,  tom.  ii.  chap.  12. 

*o  Mariana,  Hist,  de  Espafia,  tom.  i.  p.  910. 


CASTILE. 


35 


The  "good  constable"  Davalos,  in  the  time  of  Henry 
the  Third,  could  ride  through  his  own  estates  all  the 
way  from  Seville  to  Compostella,  almost  the  two  ex- 
tremities of  the  kingtlom/'  Alvaro  de  Luna,  the 
powerful  favorite  of  John  the  Second,  could  muster 
twenty  thousand  vassals.*'  A  contemporary,  who  gives 
a  catalogue  of  the  annual  rents  of  the  principal  Cas- 
tilian  nobility  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  or  beginning 
of  the  following  century,  computes  several  at  fifty  and 
sixty  thousand  ducats  a  year,*^  an  immense  income,  if 
we  take  into  consideration  the  value  of  money  in  that 
age.  The  same  writer  estimates  their  united  revenues 
as  equal  to  one-third  of  those  in  the  whole  kingdom.** 

*•  Cr6nica  dc  Don  Alvaro  do  Luna  (ed.  de  la  Acad.,  Madrid,  1784), 
App.  p.  465. 

*"  Guzman,  Generaciones  y  Semblanzas  (Madrid,  1775),  cap.  84. — 
His  annual  revenue  is  computed  by  Perez  de  Guzman  at  100,000 
doblas  of  gold ;  a  sum  equivalent  to  856,000  dollars  at  the  present  day. 

'3  The  former  of  these  two  sums  is  equivalent  to  $438,875,  or 
;^9i,474  sterling;  and  the  latter  to  ;5!526,65o,  or  j^i09,7i6,  nearly.  I 
have  been  guided,  in  this  History,  in  the  reduction  of  sums,  by  a 
dissertation  of  Clemencin,  in  the  sixth  volume  of  the  Memorias  de  la 
Real  Academia  de  la  Historia  (Madrid,  1821,  pp.  507-566).  That 
treatise  is  very  elaborate  and  ample,  and  brings  under  view  all  the 
different  coins  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella's  time,  settling  their  specific 
value  with  great  accuracy.  The  calculation  is  attended  with  consider- 
able difficulty,  owing  to  the  depreciation  of  the  value  of  the  precious 
metals,  and  the  repeated  adulteration  of  the  real.  In  his  tables,  at  the 
end,  he  exhibits  the  commercial  value  of  the  different  denominations, 
ascertained  by  the  quantity  of  wheat  (as  sure  a  standard  as  any)  which 
they  would  buy  at  that  day.  Taking  the  average  of  values,  which 
varied  considerably  in  different  years  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  it 
appears  that  the  ducat,  reduced  to  our  own  currency,  will  be  equal  to 
about  eight  dollars  and  seventy-seven  cents,  and  the  dobla  to  eight 
dollars  and  fifty-six  cents. 

*4  The  ample  revenues  of  the  Spanish  grandee  of  the  present  time, 


ii  ■ 


36 


INTRODUCTION. 


These  ambitious  nobles  did  not  consume  their  for- 
tunes or  their  energies  in  a  life  of  effeminate  luxury. 
From  their  earliest  boyhood  they  were  accustomed  to 
serve  in  the  ranks  agai.ist  the  infidel/s  and  their  whole 
subsequent  lives  were  occupied  either  with  war  or  with 
those  martial  exercises  which  reflect  the  image  of  it. 
Looking  back  with  pride  to  their  ancient  Gothic  de- 
scent, and  to  those  times  when  they  had  stood  forward 
as  the  peers,  the  electors  of  their  sovereign,  they  could 
ill  brook  the  slightest  indignity  at  his  hand.*  With 
these  haughty  feelings  and  martial  habits,  and  this 
enormous  assumption  of  power,  it  may  readily  be  con- 
ceived that  they  would  not  suffer  the  anarchical  provi- 
sions of  the  constitution,  which  seemed  to  concede  an 

instead  of  Ijeing  lavished  on  a  band  of  military  retainers,  as  of  yore, 
are  sometimes  dispensed  in  the  more  peaceful  hospitality  of  supporting 
an  almost  equally  formidable  host  of  needy  relations  and  dependents. 
According  to  Bourgoanne  (Travels  in  Spain,  vol.  i.  chap.  4),  no  less 
than  ihree  thousand  of  these  gentry  were  maintained  on  the  estates  of 
the  duke  of  Arcos,  who  died  in  1780. 

*s  Mendoza  records  the  circumstance  of  the  head  of  the  family  of 
Ponce  de  Leon  (a  descendant  of  the  celebrated  marquis  of  Cadiz) 
carrying  his  son,  then  thirteen  years  old,  with  him  into  battle ;  "an 
ancient  usage,"  he  says,  "in  that  noble  house."  (Guerra  de  Gra- 
nada (Valencia,  1776),  p.  318.)  The  only  son  of  Alfonso  VI.  was 
slain,  fighting  manfully  in  the  ranks,  at  the  battle  of  Ucles,  in  1109, 
when  only  eleven  years  of  age.     Mariana,  Hist,  de  Espana,  tom.  i.  p. 

565. 
<*  The  northern  provinces,  the  theatre  of  this  primitive  independence, 

have  always  been  consecrated  by  this  very  circumstance,  in  the  eyes 
of  a  Spaniard.  "  The  proudest  lord,"  says  Navagiero,  "  feels  it  an 
honor  to  trace  his  pedigree  to  this  quarter."  (Viaggio,  fol.  44.)  The 
same  feeling  has  continued,  and  the  meanest  native  of  Biscay  or  the 
Asturias,  at  the  present  day,  claims  to  be  noble ;  a  pretension  which 
often  contrasts  ridiculously  enough  with  the  humble  character  of  his 
occupation,  and  has  furnished  many  a  pleasant  anecdote  to  travellers. 


CASTILE. 


37 


almost  unlimited  license  of  rebellion,  to  remain  a  dead 
letter.  Accordingly,  we  lind  them  perpetually  con- 
vulsing the  kingdom  with  their  schemes  of  selfish  ag- 
grandizement. The  petitions  of  the  commons  are 
filled  with  remonstrances  on  their  various  oppressions 
and  the  evils  resulting  from  their  long,  desolating  feuds. 
So  that,  notwithstanding  the  liberal  forms  of  its  con- 
stitution, there  was  probably  no  co'intry  in  Europe, 
during  the  Middle  Ages,  so  sorely  afflicted  with  the 
vices  of  intestine  anarchy  as  Castile.  These  were 
still  further  aggravated  by  the  improvident  donations 
of  the  monarch  to  the  aristocracy,  in  the  vain  hope  of 
conciliating  their  attachment,  but  which  swelled  their 
already  overgrown  power  to  such  a  height  that  by 
the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century  it  not  only  over- 
shadowed that  of  the  throne,  but  threatened  to  subvert 
the  liberties  of  the  state. 

Their  self-confidence,  however,  proved  eventually 
their  ruin.  They  disdained  a  co-operation  with  the 
lower  orders  in  defence  of  their  privileges,  and  relied 
too  unhesitatingly  on  their  power  as  a  body  to  feel 
jealous  of  their  exclusion  from  the  national  legislature, 
where  alone  they  could  have  made  an  effectual  stand 
against  the  usurpations  of  the  crown.  The  course  of 
this  work  will  bring  under  review  the  dexterous  policy 
by  which  the  crown  contrived  to  strip  the  aristocracy 
of  its  substantial  privileges,  and  prepared  the  way  for 
the  period  when  it  should  retain  possession  only  of  a 
few  barren  though  ostentatious  dignities.*' 

^7  An  elaborate  dissertation,  by  the  advocate  Don  Alonso  Carillo,  on 
the  pre-eminence  and  privileges  of  the  Caslilian  grandee,  is  appended 
to  Salazar  de  Metidoza's  Origen  de  las  Dignidades  scglares  de  Castilla 


38 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  inferior  orders  of  nobility,  the  hidalgos  (whose 
dignity,  like  that  of  the  ricos  hombres,  would  seem,  as 
their  name  imports,  to  have  been  originally  founded  on 
wealth),*^  and  the  cavallcros,  or  knights,  enjoyed  many 
of  the  immunities  of  the  higher  class,  especially  that 
of  exemption  from  taxation.^  Knighthood  appears  to 
have  been  regarded  with  especial  favor  by  the  law  of 
Castile.  Its  ample  privileges  and  its  duties  are  defined 
with  a  precision,  and  in  a  spirit  of  romance,  that  might 
have  served  for  the  court  of  King  Arthur.'"    Spain  was 

(Madrid,  1794).  The  most  prized  of  these  appears  to  be  that  of  keep- 
ing the  head  covered  in  the  presence  of  the  sovereign ;  "  prerogativa 
tan  ilustre,"  says  the  writer,  "  que  ella  sola  imprime  el  principal  carac- 
ter  de  la  Grandeza.  Y  considerada  por  sus  efectos  admirables,  ocupa 
dignamente  el  primero  lugar."  (Discurso  3.)  The  sentimental  citizen 
Bourgoanne  finds  it  necessary  to  apologize  to  his  republican  brethren 
for  noticing  these  "  important  trifles."   Travels  in  Spain,  vol.  i.  chap.  4. 

^  "  Los  llamaron  fijosdalgo,  que  muestra  a  tanto  como  fijos  de 
bien."  (Siete  Partidas,  part.  2,  tit.  21.)  "  Por  hidalgos  se  cntienden 
/os  hombres  escogidos  de  buenos  lugares  t  con  algo."  Asso  y  Manuel, 
Instituciones,  pp.  33,  34. 

^  Recopilacion  de  las  Leyes,  lib.  6,  tit.  i,  leyes  2,  9 ;  tit.  2,  leyes  3, 4, 
10 ;  tit.  14,  leyes  14, 19. — They  were  obliged  to  contribute  to  the  repair 
of  fortifications  and  public  works,  Ithough,  as  the  statute  e.xpresses  it, 
"  tengan  privilegios  para  que  scan  essentos  de  todos  pechos." 

70  The  knight  was  to  array  himself  in  light  and  cheerful  vestments, 
and,  in  the  cities  and  public  places,  his  person  was  to  be  enveloped  in 
a  long  and  flowing  mantle,  in  order  to  impose  greater  reverence  on  the 
people.  His  good  steed  was  to  be  distinguished  by  the  beauty  and 
richness  of  its  caparisons.  He  was  to  Uve  abstemiously,  indulging 
himself  in  none  of  the  effeminate  delights  of  couch  or  banquet.  Dur- 
ing a  repast,  his  mind  was  to  be  refreshed  with  the  recital,  from 
history,  of  deeds  of  ancient  heroism;  and  in  th  fight  he  was  com- 
manded to  invoke  the  name  of  his  mistress,  tliat  it  might  infuse  new 
ardor  into  his  soul,  and  preserve  him  from  the  com.mission  of  un- 
knightly  actions.  See  Siete  Partidas,  part.  2,  tit.  21,  which  is  taken  up 
with  defining  the  obligations  of  chivalry. 


CASTILE. 


indeed  the  land  of  chivalr)'.  The  respect  for  the  sex, 
which  had  descended  from  the  Visigoths, 7'  was  mingled 
with  the  religious  enthusiasm  which  iiad  been  kindled 
in  the  long  wars  with  the  infidel.  The  apotheosis  of 
chivalry,  in  the  person  of  their  apostle  and  patron,  St. 
James,''  contributed  still  further  to  this  exaltation  of 
sentiment,  which  was  maintained  by  the  various  mili- 
tary orders,  who  devoted  themselves,  in  the  bold  lan- 
guage of  the  age,  to  the  service  "of  God  and  the 
ladies."  So  that  the  Spaniard  may  be  said  to  have  put 
in  action  what,  in  other  countries,  passed  for  the  ex- 
t.avagancies  of  the  minstrel.  An  example  of  this 
occurs  in  the  fifteenth  century,  when  a  passage  of  arms 
was  defended  at  Orbigo,  not  far  from  the  shrine  of 
Compostella,  by  a  Castilian  knight,  named  Suero  de 
Quinones,  and  his  nine  companions,  against  all  comers, 
in  the  presence  of  John  the  Second  and  his  court.  Its 
object  was  to  release  the  knight  from  the  obligation, 
imposed  on  him  by  his  mistress,  of  publicly  wearing 
an  iron  collar  round  his  neck  every  Thursday.  Th ; 
jousts  continued  for  thirty  days,  and  the  d^ughiy 
champions  fought  without  shield  or  target,  with  we^q  - 
ons  bearing  points  of  Milan  steel.  Six  hunoici  and 
twenty-seven  encounters  took  place,  and  one  nundred 
and  sixty-six  lances  were  broken,  when  tlie  ernpr'Se 
was  declared  to  be  fairly  achieved.     The  whole  aff:iii 

7'  Sec  Fuero  Juzgo,  lib.  3,  which  is  devoted  almost  exclusiv  ciy  to 
the  sex.  Montesquieu  discerns  in  the  jealous  surveillance  vhi  -y.  the 
Visigoths  maintained  over  the  honor  of  their  women,  so  close  an 
analogy  with  oriental  usages,  as  must  have  greatly  facilitated  the  con- 
quest of  the  country  by  the  Arabians.  Esprit  des  Lois,  liv.  14,  chap.  14. 

72  Warton's  expression.  See  his  History  of  English  Poetry  (Lon- 
don, 1824),  vol,  i.  p.  245. 


40 


INTRODUCTION. 


is  narrated  with  becoming  gravity  by  an  eye-witness, 
and  the  reader  may  fancy  himself  perusing  the  adven- 
tures of  a  Launcelot  or  an  Amadis." 

The  influence  of  the  ecclesiastics  in  Spain  may  be 
traced  back  to  the  age  of  the  Visigoths,  when  tliey 
controlled  the  affairs  of  the  state  in  the  great  national 
councils  of  Toledo.  This  influence  was  maintained  by 
the  extraordinary  position  of  the  nation  after  the  con- 
quest. The  holy  warfare  in  which  it  was  embarked 
seemed  to  require  the  co-operation  of  the  clergy,  to 
propitiate  Heaven  in  its  behalf,  to  interpret  its  myste- 
rious omens,  and  to  move  all  the  K;t.chinery  of  miracles, 
by  which  the  imagination  is  so  powerfully  affected  in  a 
rude  and  superstitious  age.  They  even  condescended, 
in  imitation  of  their  patron  saint,  to  mingle  in  the 
ranks,  and,  with  the  crucifix  in  their  hands,  to  lead 
the  soldiers  on  to  battle.  P^xamples  of  these  militant 
prelates  are  to  be  found  in  Spain  so  late  as  the  sixteenth 
century. 7* 

But,  while  the  native  ecclesiastics  obtained  such  com- 
plete ascendency  over  the  popular  mind,  the  Roman  See 
could  boast  of  less  influence  in  Spain  than  in  any  other 
country  in  Europe.     The  Gothic  liturgy  was  alone  re- 

73  See  the  "  Passo  honroso"  appended  to  the  Cronica  de  Alvaro  de 
Luna. 

74  The  present  narrative  will  introduce  the  reader  to  more  than  one 
belligerent  prelate,  who  filled  the  very  highest  post  in  the  Spanish  and,  I 
may  say,  the  Christian  church,  next  to  the  papacy.  (See  Alvaro  Gomez, 
De  Rebus  gestis  a  Francisco  Ximenio  Cisnerio  (Compluti,  1569),  fol. 
no  et  seq.)  The  practice,  indeed,  was  familiar  in  other  countries,  as 
well  as  Spain,  at  this  late  period.  In  the  bloody  battle  of  Ravenna,  in 
1512,  two  cardinal  legates,  one  of  them  the  future  Leo  X.,  fought  on 
opposite  sides.  Paolo  Giovio,  Vita  Leonis  X.,  apud  "  VitaJ  lUustrium 
Virorum"  (Basiliae,  1578),  lib.  2. 


CASTILE. 


41 


ceived  as  canonical  until  the  eleventh  century  ;'s  and, 
until  the  twelfth,  the  sovereign  held  the  right  of  juris- 
diction over  all  ecclesiastical  causes,  and  of  collating 
to  benefices,  or  at  least  of  confirming  or  annulling  the 
election  of  the  chapters.  The  code  of  Alfonso  the 
Tenth,  however,  which  borrowed  its  principles  of  juris- 
prudence from  the  civil  and  canon  law,  completed  a 
revolution  already  begun,  and  transferred  these  im- 
portant prerogatives  to  the  pope,  who  now  succeeded 
in  establishing  a  usurpation  over  ecclesiastical  rights  in 
Castile,  similar  to  that  which  had  been  before  effected 
in  other  parts  of  Christendom.  Some  of  these  abuses, 
as  that  of  the  nomination  of  foreigners  to  benefices, 
were  can  led  to  such  an  impudent  height  as  repeatedly 
provoked  the  indignant  remonstrances  of  the  cortes. 
The  ecclesiastics,  eager  to  indemnify  themselves  for 
what  they  had  sacrificed  to  Rome,  were  more  than  ever 
solicitous  to  assert  their  independence  of  the  royal 
jurisdiction.  They  particularly  insisted  on  their  im- 
munity from  taxation,  and  were  even  reluctant  to  divide 
with  the  laity  the  necessary  burdens  of  a  .var  which, 
from  its  sacred  character,  would  seem  to  have  had  im- 
perative claims  en  them.^* 

Notwithstanding  the  immediate  dependence  thus  es- 

73  The  contt  jt  for  supremacy  between  the  Mozarabic  ritual  and  the 
Roman  is  familiar  to  the  reader,  in  the  curious  narrative  extracted  i^y 
Robertson  from  Mariana,  Hist,  de  Espnna,  lib.  9,  cap.  18. 

7*  Siete  Partidas,  part,  i,  tu.  6. — Florcz,  Espaiia  sagrada,  torn.  xx. 
p.  16. — The  Jesuit  Mariana  appears  to  grudge  this  appropriation  of  the 
"sacred  revenues  of  the  Church"  to  defray  the  cxpc.ises  of  the  holy 
war  against  the  Saracen.  (Hist,  de  Espaiia,  torn.  i.  p.  177.)  See  also 
the  Ensayo  (nos.  322-364),  wliere  Marina  has  analyzed  and  discussed 
the  general  import  of  ti.e  first  of  the  Partidas. 


4a 


INTRODUCTION. 


^.   ■  I 


I  iii 


tablished  on  the  head  of  the  church  by  the  legislation 
of  Alfonso  the  Tenth,  the  general  immunities  secured 
by  it  to  the  ecclesiastics  operated  as  a  powerful  bounty 
on  their  increase;  and  the  mendicant  orders  in  par- 
ticular, that  spiritual  militia  of  the  popes,  were  multi- 
plied over  the  country  to  an  alarming  extent.  Many 
of  th^ir  members  were  not  only  incompetent  to  the 
duties  -if  their  profession,  being  without  the  least  tinc- 
ture of  iioeral  culture,  but  fixed  a  deep  stain  on  it  bv 
the  cfWiiess  laxity  of  their  morals.  Open  concubinage 
was  fa:raliarly  practised  by  the  clergy,  as  well  as  laity, 
ol  'he  y^'.riod,  and,  so  far  from  being  reprobated  by  the 
law  of  the  land,  seems  anciently  to  have  been  counte- 
nance !  i>y  it."  This  moral  insensibility  may  probably 
be  reieired  to  the  contagious  example  of  their  Ma- 
hometan neighbors;  but,  from  whatever  source  derived, 
the  practice  was  indulged  to  such  a  shameless  extent 
that,  as  the  nation  advanced  in  refinement,  in  the  four- 
teenth and  fifteenth  centuries,  it  became  the  subject  of 
frequent  legislative  enactments,  in  which  the  concu- 
bines of  the  clergy  are  described  as  causing  general 
scandal  by  their  lawlf'ss  effrontery  and  ostentatious 
magnificence  of  appa?  il.^* 

Notwithstanding  this  prevalent  licentiousness  of  the 
Spanish  ecclesia  ncs,  their  influence  became  every  day 
more  widely  exfended,  while  this  ascendency,  for  which 
they  were  particularly  indebteu  \<\  th.U  rude  age  to  their 
superior  learning  and  capacit}',  was  perpt'nated  by 
their  enormous   acquisitions  of    wealth.     Scarcely   a 


II   ■'' 


vi    !i:i 


77  Marina,  Ensayo,  ubi  supra,  and  nos.  220  et  seq. 
7f  See  the  original  acts,  quoted  by  Seaiperc  in  his  Hisloria  del  Luxo, 
torn,  i.  pp,  166  et  seq. 


CASTILE. 


43 


town  was  reconquered  from  the  Moors  without  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  its  territory  being  appropriated  to 
the  support  of  some  ancient  or  the  foundation  of  some 
new  religious  establishment.  These  were  the  common 
reservoir  into  which  flowed  the  copious  streams  of  private 
as  well  as  royal  bounty;  and,  when  the  consequences 
of  these  alienations  in  mortmain  came  to  be  visible  in 
the  impoverishment  of  the  public  revenue,  every  attempt 
at  legislative  interference  was  in  a  great  measure  defeated 
by  the  piety  or  superstition  of  the  age.  The  abbess  of 
the  monastery  of  Huelgas,  which  was  situated  within 
the  precincts  of  Burgos,  and  contained  within  its  walls 
one  hundred  and  fifty  nuns  of  the  noblest  families  in 
Castile,  exercised  jurisdiction  over  fourteen  capital 
towns  and  more  than  fifty  smaller  places ;  and  she  was 
accounted  inferior  only  to  the  queen  in  dignity.^'  The 
archbishop  of  Toledo,  by  virtue  of  his  ofifice  primate 
of  Spain  and  grand  chancellor  of  Castile,  was  esteemed, 
after  the  pope,  the  highest  ecclesiastical  dignitary  in 
Christendom.  His  revenues,  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  exceeded  eighty  thousand  ducats;  while  the 
gross  amount  of  those  of  the  subordinate  beneficiaries 
of  his  church  rose  to  one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand. 
He  could  muster  a  greater  number  ol  vassals  than  any 
other  subject  in  the  kingdom,  and  held  jurisdiction  over 
fifteen  large  and  populous  towns,  besides  a  great  num- 
ber of  inferior  places.^ 

79  Lucio  Marineo  Siculo,  Cosas  memorables  de  Espaiia  (Alcald  de 
Henares,  1539),  fol.  16. 

80  Navagiero,  Viaggio,  fol.  9. — -L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol. 
12. — Laborde  reckons  the  revenues  of  this  prelate,  in  his  tables,  at 
12,000,000  reals,  or  600,000  dollars.  (Itineraire,  torn.  vi.  p.  9.) — The 
estimate  Is  grossly  exaggerated  for  the  present  day.    The  rents  of  this 


44 


INTRODUCTION. 


These  princely  funds,  when  intrusted  to  pious  prel- 
ates, were  munificently  dispensed  in  useful  public 
works,  and  especially  in  the  foundation  of  eleemosy- 
nary institutions,  with  which  every  great  city  in  Castile 
was  liberally  supplied.**  But  in  the  hands  of  worldly 
men  they  were  perverted  from  these  noble  uses  to  the 
gratification  of  personal  vanity  or  the  disorganizing 
schemes  of  faction.  The  moral  perceptions  of  the 
people,  in  the  mean  time,  were  confused  by  the  visible 
demeanor  of  the  hierarchy,  so  repugnant  to  the  natural 
conceptions  of  religious  duty.  They  learned  to  attach 
an  exclusive  value  to  external  rites,  to  the  forms  rather 
than  the  spirit  of  Christianity;  estimating  the  piety 
of  men  by  their  speculative  opinions  rather  than  their 
practical  conduct.  The  ancient  Spaniards,  notwith- 
standing their  prevalent  superstition,  were  untinctured 
with  the  fiercer  religious  bigotry  of  later  times;  and 
the  uncharitable  temper  of  their  priests,  occasionally 
disclosed  in  the  heats  of  religious  war,  was  controlled 
by  public  opinion,  which  accorded  a  high  degree  of 
respect  to  the  intellectual  as  well  as  political  superiority 
of  the  Arabs.  But  the  time  was  now  coming  when 
these  ancient  barriers  were  to  be  broken  down ;  when 
a  difference  of  religious  sentiment  was  to  dissolve  all 
the  ties  of  human  brotherhood;  when  uniformity  of 


see,  like  those  of  every  other  in  the  kingdom,  bs.ve  been  grievously 
clipped  in  the  late  political  troubles.  They  are  stated  by  the  intelligent 
author  of  "  A  Year  in  Spain,'  on  the  authority  of  the  clergy  of  the  dio- 
cese, at  only  one-third  of  the  above  sum ;  an  estimate  confirmed  by  Mr. 
Inglis,  who  computes  them  at  ^^40,000.  Spain  in  1830,  vol.  i.  ch.  11. 
81  Modern  travellers,  who  condemn  without  reserve  the  corruption 
of  the  inferior  clergy,  bear  uniform  testimony  to  the  exemplary  piety 
and  munificent  charities  of  the  higher  dignitaries  of  the  church. 


CASTILE. 


45 


faith  was  to  be  purchased  by  the  sacrifice  of  any  rights, 
even  those  of  intellectual  freedom;  when,  in  fine,  the 
Christian  and  the  Mussulman,  the  oppressor  and  the 
oppressed,  were  to  be  alike  bowed  down  under  the 
strong  arm  of  ecclesiastical  tyranny.  The  means  by 
which  a  revolution  so  disastrous  to  Spain  was  effected, 
as  well  as  the  incipient  stages  of  its  progress,  are  topics 
that  fall  within  the  scope  of  the  present  history. 

From  the  preceding  survey  of  the  constitutional  priv- 
ileges enjoyed  by  the  different  orders  of  the  Castilian 
monarchy  previous  to  the  fifteenth  century,  it  is  evident 
that  the  royal  authority  must  have  been  circumscribed 
within  very  narrow  limits.  The  numerous  states  into 
which  the  great  Gothic  empire  was  broken  after  the 
conquest  were  individually  too  insignificant  to  confer 
on  their  respective  sovereigns  the  possession  of  exten- 
sive power,  or  even  to  authorize  the  assumption  of  that 
state  by  which  it  is  supported  in  the  eyes  of  the  vulgar. 
When  some  more  fortunate  prince,  by  conquest  or  alli- 
ance, had  enlarged  the  circle  of  his  dominions,  and 
thus  in  some  measure  remedied  the  evil,  it  was  sure  to 
recur  upon  his  death,  by  the  subdivision  of  his  estates 
among  his  children.  This  mischievous  practice  was 
even  countenanced  by  public  opinion  ;  for  the  different 
districts  of  the  country,  in  their  habitual  independence 
of  each  other,  acquired  an  exclusiveness  of  feeling 
which  made  it  difficult  for  them  ever  cordially  to  coa- 
lesce; and  traces  of  this  early  antipathy  are  to  be  dis- 
cerned in  the  mutual  jealousies  and  local  peculiarities 
which  still  distinguish  the  different  sections  of  the  Pen- 
insula, after  their  consolidation  into  one  monarchy  for 
more  than  three  centuries. 


I 


'111 


k 


f 

I 


r 


I- 

11.:  !  1' 


46 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  election  to  the  crown,  although  no  longer  vested 
in  the  hands  of  the  national  assembly,  as  with  the  Visi- 
goths, was  yet  subject  to  its  approbation.  The  title  of 
the  heir  apparent  was  formally  recognized  by  a  cortes 
convoked  for  the  purpose;  and,  on  the  decease  of  his 
parent,  the  new  sovereign  again  convened  the  estates 
to  receive  their  oath  of  allegiance,  which  they  cau- 
tiously withheld  until  he  had  first  sworn  to  preserve 
inviolate  the  liberties  of  the  con';titution.  Nor  was 
this  a  merely  nominal  privilege,  as  was  evinced  on 
more  than  one  memorable  occasion.^' 

We  have  seen,  in  our  review  of  the  popular  branch 
of  the  government,  how  closely  its  authority  pressed 
even  on  the  executive  functions  of  the  administration. 
The  monarch  was  still  further  controlled,  in  this  de- 
partment, by  his  royal  or  privy  council,  consisting  of 
the  chief  nobility  and  great  officers  of  state,  to  which, 
in  later  times,  a  depu^ution  of  the  commons  was  some- 
times added. ^^  This  body,  together  with  the  king,  had 
cognizance  of  the  moit  important  public  transactions, 

8a  Marina,  I'eoria,  part.  2,  cap.  2,  5,  6. — A  remarkable  instance  of 
this  occurred  as  late  as  the  accession  of  Charles  V. 

83  The  earliest  example  of  this  permanent  committee  of  the  com- 
mons, residing  at  court,  and  entering  into  the  king's  council,  was  in  the 
minority  of  Ferdinand  IV.,  in  1295.  The  subject  is  involved  in  some 
obscurity,  which  Marina  has  not  succeeded  in  dispelling.  He  considers 
the  deputation  to  have  formed  a  necessary  and  constituent  part  of  the 
council,  from  the  time  of  its  first  appointment.  (Teoria,  tom.  ii.  cap. 
27,  28.)  Sempere,  on  the  other  hand,  discerns  no  warrant  for  this,  after 
its  introduction,  till  the  time  of  the  Austrian  dynasty.  (Histoire  des 
Cortfes,  chap.  29.)  Marina,  who  too  often  mistakes  anomaly  for  prac- 
tice, is  certainly  not  justified,  even  by  his  own  showing,  in  the  sweeping 
conclusions  at  which  he  arrives.  But,  if  his  prejudices  lead  him  to  see 
more  than  has  happened,  on  the  one  hand,  those  of  Sempere,  on  the 
other,  make  him  sometimes  "  high  gravel  blind." 


CASTILR. 


47 


whether  of  a  civil,  military,  or  diplomatic  nature.  It 
was  established  by  positive  enactment  that  the  prince, 
without  its  consent,  had  no  right  to  alienate  the  royal 
demesne,  to  confer  pensions  beyond  a  very  limited 
amount,  or  to  nominate  to  vacant  benefices."*  His 
legislative  powers  wore  to  be  exercised  in  concurrence 
with  the  cortes;^s  and,  in  the  judicial  depai  nt,  his 
authority,  during  the  latter  part  of  the  p(  under 

review,  seems  to  have  been  chiefly  exercised  in  the 
selection  of  officers  for  the  higher  judicatures,  from 
a  list  of  candidates  presented  to  him  on  a  vacancy  by 
their  members  concurrently  with  his  privy  council." 


84  The  important  functions  and  history  of  this  body  are  Investigated 
by  Marina.  (Teoria,  part.  2,  ca]).  27,  28,  29.)  See  also  Seinpere 
(Histoire  des  Cortes,  cap.  16),  and  the  Informe  de  Don  Agustin  Riol 
(apud  Semanario  erudito,  toni.  iii.  pp.  113  et  seq.),  where,  however,  its 
subsequent  condition  is  cliictly  considered. 

^s  Not  so  excUisivcly,  however,  by  any  means,  as  Marina  pretends. 
(Teoria,  part.  2,  cap.  17,  18.)  He  borrows  a  pertinent  iUustration  from 
the  famous  code  of  Alfonso  X.,  which  was  not  received  as  law  of  the 
land  till  it  had  been  formally  published  in  cortes,  in  1348,  more  than 
seventy  years  after  its  original  compilation.  In  his  zeal  for  popular  rights, 
he  omits  to  notice,  however,  the  power,  so  frequently  assumed  by  the 
sovereign,  of  granting  fiieros,  or  municipal  charters ;  a  right,  indeed, 
which  the  great  lords,  spiritual  and  temporal,  exercised  in  common 
with  him,  subject -to  his  sanction.  See  a  multitude  of  these  seignorial 
codes,  enumerated  by  .\sso  and  Manuel.  (Instituciones,  Introd.,  ])p. 
31  et  seq.)  The  monarch  claimed,  moreover,  thougli  not  by  any  me.ins 
so  freely  as  in  later  times,  the  privilege  of  issuing  pragnuiticas,  ordi- 
nances of  an  executive  character,  or  for  the  redress  of  grievances  sub- 
mitted to  him  by  the  national  legislature.  Within  certain  limits,  this 
was  undoubtedly  a  constitutional  prerogative.  But  the  history  of 
Castile,  like  that  of  most  other  countries  in  Europe,  shows  how  easily 
it  was  abused  in  the  hands  of  an  arbitrary  prince. 

^  The  civil  and  criminal  business  of  the  kingdom  was  committed,  in 
the  last  resort,  to  the  very  ancient  tribunal  of  alcalJes  de  casay  corte. 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
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£   LS.    12.0 


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Sciences 

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23  WIST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  145*0 

(716)  t72-4S03 


i|^ 


48 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  scantiness  of  the  king's  revenue  corresponded 
with  that  of  his  constitutional  authority.  By  an  an- 
cient lawr,  indeed,  of  similar  tenor  with  one  familiar  to 
the  Saracens,  the  sovereign  was  entitled  to  a  fifth  of 
the  spoils  of  victory.^  This,  in  the  course  of  the  long 
wars  with  the  Moslems,  would  have  secured  him  more 
ample  possessions  than  were  enjoyed  by  any  other  prince 
in  Christendom.  But  several  circumstances  concurred 
to  prevent  this  result. 

The  long  minorities,  with  which  Castile  was  afflicted 
perhaps  more  than  any  other  country  in  Europe,  fre- 
quently threw  the  government  into  the  hands  of  the  prin- 
cipal nobility,  who  perverted  to  their  own  emoluments 
the  high  powers  intrusted  to  them.  They  usurped  the 
possessions  of  the  crown,  and  invaded  some  of  its  most 
valuable  privileges ;  so  that  the  sovereign's  subsequent 
life  was  often  consumed  in  fruitless  attempts  to  repair 

until,  in  1371,  a  new  one,  entitled  the  royal  audience  or  chancery,  was 
constituted  under  Henry  II.,  with  supreme  and  ultimate  jurisdiction  in 
civil  causes.  These,  in  the  first  instance,  however,  might  be  brought 
before  the  alcaldes  de  la  corte,  which  continued,  and  has  since  con- 
tinued, the  high  court  in  criminal  matters.  The  audiencia,  or  chancery, 
consisted  at  first  of  seven  judges,  whose  number  varied  a  good  deal 
afterwards.  They  were  appointed  by  the  crown,  in  the  manner  men- 
tioned in  the  text.  Their  salaries  were  such  as  to  secure  their  inde- 
pendence, as  far  as  possible,  of  any  undue  influence ;  and  this  was  still 
further  done  by  the  supervision  of  cortes,  whose  acts  show  the  deep 
solicitude  with  which  it  watched  over  the  concerns  and  conduct  of  this 
important  tribunal.  For  a  notice  of  the  original  organizntion  and  sub- 
sequent modifications  of  the  Castilian  courts,  consult  Marina  (Teoria, 
part.  2,  cap.  21-25),  Riol  (Informe,  apud  Semanario  erudito,  tom.  iii. 
pp.  129  et  seq.),  and  Sempere  (Histoire  des  Cortes,  chap.  15),  whose 
loose  and  desultorj'  remarks  show  perfect  familiarity  with  the  subject, 
and  presuppose  more  than  is  likely  to  be  found  in  the  reader. 

87  Siete  Partidas,  part.  2,  tit.  26,  leyess,  6,  7. — Mendoza  notices  this 
custom  as  recently  as  Philip  II. "s  day.    Guerra  de  Granada,  p.  170. 


CASTILE. 


49 


the  losses  of  his  minority.  He  sometimes,  indeed,  in 
the  impotence  of  other  resources,  resorted  to  such  un- 
happy expedients  as  treachery  and  assassination.*  A 
pleasant  tale  is  told  by  the  Spanish  historians,  of  the 
more  innocent  device  of  Henry  the  Third,  for  the  re- 
covery of  the  estates  extorted  from  the  crown  by  the 
rapacious  nobles  during  his  minority. 

Returning  home  late  one  evening,  fatigued  and  half 
famished,  from  a  hunting  expedition,  he  was  chagrined 
to  find  no  refreshment  prepared  for  him,  and  still  more 
so  to  learn  from  his  steward  that  he  had  neither  money 
nor  credit  to  purchase  it.  The  day's  sport,  however, 
fortunately  furnished  the  means  of  appeasing  the  royal 
appetite ;  and,  while  this  was  in  progress,  the  steward 
took  occasion  to  contrast  the  indigent  condition  of  the 
king  with  that  of  his  nobles,  who  habitually  indulged  in 
the  most  expensive  entertainments,  and  were  that  very 
evening  feasting  with  the  archbishop  of  Toledo.  The 
prince,  suppressing  his  indignation,  determined,  like 
the  far-famed  caliph  in  the  "Arabian  Nights,"  to  in- 
spect the  affair  in  person,  and,  assuming  a  disguise, 
introduced  himself  privately  into  the  archbishop's 
palace,  where  he  witnessed  with  his  own  eyes  the 
prodigal  magnificence  of  the  banquet,  teeming  with 
costly  wines  and  the  most  luxurious  viands. 

The  next  day  he  caused  a  rumor  to  be  circulated 
through  the  court,  that  he  had  fallen  suddwily  and  dan- 
gerously ill.  The  courtiers,  at  these  tidings,  thronged 
to  the  palace;  and,  when  they  had  all  assembled,  the 
king  made  his  appearance  among  them,  bearing  his 


IS 


88  Mariana,  Hist.  d€  Espafla,  lib.  15,  cap.  19,  20. 
Vol.  I. — 4  c 


50 


INTRODUCTION. 


naked  sword  in  his  hand,  and,  with  an  aspect  of  un- 
usual severity,  seated  himself  on  his  throne  at  the  upper 
extremity  of  the  apartment. 

After  an  interval  of  silence  in  the  astonished  assembly, 
the  monarch,  addressing  himself  to  the  primate,  inquired 
of  him  how  many  sovereigns  he  had  known  in  Cas- 
tile. The  prelate  answering  four,  Henry  put  the  same 
question  to  the  duke  of  Benevente,  and  so  on  to  the 
other  courtiers  in  succession.  None  of  them,  however, 
having  answered  more  than  five,  **How  is  this,"  said 
the  prince,  "that  you,  who  are  so  old,  should  have 
known  so  few,  while  I,  young  as  I  am,  have  beheld 
more  than  twenty?  Yes,'*  continued  he,  raising  his 
voice,  to  the  astonished  multitude,  **you  are  the  real 
sovereigns  of  Castile,  enjoying  all  the  rights  and  reve- 
nues of  royalty,  while  I,  stripped  of  my  patrimony, 
have  scarcely  wherewithal  to  procure  the  necessaries 
of  life."  Then,  giving  a  concerted  signal,  his  guards 
entered  the  apartment,  followed  by  the  public  execu- 
tioner bearing  along  with  him  the  implements  of  death. 
The  dismayed  nobles,  not  relishing  the  turn  the  jest 
appeared  likely  to  take,  fell  on  their  knees  before  the 
monarch  and  besought  his  forgiveness,  promising,  in 
requital,  complete  restitution  of  the  fruits  of  their 
rapacity.  Henry,  content  with  having  so  cheaply 
gained  his  point,  allowed  himself  to  soften  at  their 
entreaties,  taking  care,  however,  to  detain  their  per- 
sons as  security  for  their  engagements,  until  such  time 
as  the  rents,  royal  fortresses,  and  whatever  effects  had 
been  filched  from  the  crown  were  restored.  The  story, 
although  repeated  by  the  gravest  Castilian  writers, 
wears,  it  must  be  owned,  a  marvellous  tinge  of  romance. 


CASTILE, 


51 


But,  whether  fact,  or  founded  on  it,  it  may  serve  to 
show  the  dilapidated  condition  of  the  revenues  at  the 
beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  its  immediate 
causes.* 

Another  circumstance  which  contributed  to  im- 
poverish the  exchequer  was  the  occasional  political 
revolutions  in  Castile,  in  which  the  adhesion  of  a  fac- 
tion was  to  be  purchased  only  by  the  most  ample  con- 
cessions of  the  crown.  Such  was  the  violent  revolution 
which  placed  the  house  of  Trastamara  on  the  throne, 
in  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century. 

But  perhaps  a  more  operative  cause  than  all  these, 
of  the  alleged  evil,  was  the  conduct  of  those  imbecile 
princes  who,  with  heedless  prodigality,  squandered 
the  public  resources  on  their  own  personal  pleasures 
and  unworthy  minions.  The  disastrous  reigns  of  John 
the  Second  and  Henry  the  Fourth,  extending  over  the 
greater  portion  of  the  lifteenth  century,  furnish  perti- 
nent examples  of  this.  It  was  not  unusual,  indeed,  for 
the  cortes,  interposing  its  paternal  authority,  by  passing 
an  act  for  the  partial  resumption  of  grants  thus  illegally 
made,  in  some  degree  to  repair  the  broken  condition 
of  the  finances.  Nor  was  such  a  resumption  unfair  to 
the  actual  proprietors.     The  promise  to  maintain  the 

8»  Garibay,  Compendio,  torn.  ii.  p.  399. — Mariana,  Hist,  de  Espafia, 
torn.  ii.  pp.  234,  235. — Pedro  Lopez  de  Ayala,  chancellor  of  Castile 
and  chronicler  of  the  reigns  of  four  of  its  successive  monarchs,  termi- 
nated his  labors  abruptly  with  the  sixth  year  of  Henry  HI.,  the  subse- 
quent period  of  whose  administration  is  singularly  barren  of  authentic 
materials  for  history.  The  editor  of  Ayala's  Chronicle  considers  the 
adventure  quoted  in  the  text  as  fictitious,  and  probably  suggested  by 
a  stratagem  employed  by  Henry  for  the  seizure  of  the  duke  of  Bene- 
vente,  and  by  his  subsequent  imprisonment  at  Burgos.  See  Ayala, 
Cr6nica  dc  Castilla,  p.  355,  note  (ed.  de  la  Acad.,  1780). 


5« 


INTRODUCTION. 


iJi' 


integrity  of  the  royal  demesnes  formed  an  essential  part 
of  the  coronation  oath  of  every  sovereign;  and  the 
subject  on  whom  he  afterwards  conferred  them  knew 
well  by  what  a  precarious,  illicit  tenure  he  was  to  hold 
them. 

From  the  view  which  has  been  presented  of  the  Cas- 
tilian  constitution  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  it  is  apparent  that  the  sovereign  was  possessed 
of  less  power,  and  the  people  of  greater,  than  in  other 
European  monarchies  at  that  period.  It  must  be  owned, 
however,  as  before  intimated,  that  the  practical  opera- 
tion did  not  always  correspond  with  the  theory  of  their 
respective  functions  in  these  rude  times;  and  that  the 
powers  of  the  executive,  being  susceptible  of  greater 
compactness  and  energy  in  their  movements  than  could 
possibly  belong  to  those  of  more  complex  bodies,  were 
sufficiently  strong  in  the  hands  of  a  resolute  prince  to 
break  down  the  comparatively  feeble  barriers  of  the 
law.  Neither  were  the  relative  privileges  assigned  to 
the  different  orders  of  the  state  equitably  adjusted. 
Those  of  the  aristocracy  were  indefinite  and  exorbitant. 
The  license  of  armed  combinations  too,  so  freely  as- 
sumed both  by  this  order  and  the  commons,  although 
operating  as  a  safety-valve  for  the  escape  of  the  effer- 
vescing spirit  of  the  age,  was  itself  obviously  repugnant 
to  all  principles  of  civil  obedience,  and  exposed  the 
state  to  evils  scarcely  less  disastrous  than  those  which 
it  was  intended  to  prevent. 

It  was  apparent  that,  notwithstanding  the  magnitude 
of  the  powers  conceded  to  the  nobility  and  the  com- 
mons, there  were  important  defects,  which  prevented 
them  from  resting  on  any  sound  and  permanent  basis. 


CASTILE. 


1% 


The  representation  of  the  people  in  cortes,  instead  of 
partially  emanating,  as  in  England,  from  an  independ- 
ent body  of  landed  proprietors,  constituting  the  real 
strength  of  the  nation,  proceeded  exclusively  from  the 
cities,  whose  elections  were  much  more  open  to  populat 
caprice  and  ministerial  corruption,  and  whose  numer- 
ous local  jealousies  prevented  them  from  acting  in  cor- 
dial co-operation.  The  nobles,  notwithstanding  their 
occasional  coalitions,  were  often  arrayed  in  feuds  against 
each  other.  They  relied,  for  the  defence  of  their  privi- 
leges, solely  on  their  physical  strength,  and  heartily 
disdained,  in  any  emergency,  to  support  their  own 
cause  by  identifying  it  with  that  of  the  commons. 
Hence  it  became  obvious  that  the  monarch,  who,  not- 
withstanding his  limited  prerogative,  assumed  the 
anomalous  privilege  of  transacting  public  business  with 
the  advice  of  only  one  branch  of  the  legislature,  and 
of  occasionally  dispensing  altogether  with  the  attend- 
ance of  the  other,  might,  by  throwing  his  own  influence 
into  the  scale,  give  the  preponderance  to  whichever 
party  he  should  prefer,  and,  by  thus  dexterously  avail- 
ing himself  of  their  opposite  forces,  erect  his  own 
authority  on  the  ruins  of  the  weaker.  How  far  and 
how  successfully  this  policy  was  pursued  by  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella,  will  be  seen  in  the  course  of  this  History. 


Notwithstanding  the  general  diligence  of  the  Spanish  historians,  they 
have  done  little  towards  the  investigation  of  the  constitutional  antiqui- 
ties of  Castile,  until  the  present  century.  Dr.  Geddes's  meagre  notice 
of  the  cortes  preceded  probably  by  a  long  interval  any  native  woric 
upon  that  subject.  Robertson  frequently  complains  of  the  total  de- 
ficiency of  authentic  sources  of  information  respecting  the  laws  and 


54 


INTRODUCTION. 


government  of  Castile;  a  circumstance  that  suggests  to  a  candid 
mind  an  obvious  explanation  of  several  errors  into  which  he  has  fallen. 
Capmany,  in  the  preface  to  a  worli  compiled  by  order  of  the  central 
junta  in  Seville,  in  1809,  on  the  ancient  organization  of  the  cortes  in 
the  different  states  of  the  Peninsula,  remarks  that  "  no  author  has  ap- 
peared, down  to  the  present  day,  to  instruct  us  in  regard  to  the  origin, 
constitution,  and  celebration  of  the  Castilian  cortes,  on  all  which  topics 
there  remains  the  most  profound  ignorance."  The  melancholy  results 
to  which  such  an  investigation  must  necessarily  lead,  from  the  contrast 
it  suggests  of  existing  institutions  to  the  freer  forms  of  antiquity,  might 
well  have  deterred  the  modem  Spaniard  from  these  inquiries;  which, 
moreover,  it  can  hardly  be  supposed  would  have  received  the  counte- 
nance of  government.  The  brief  interval,  however,  in  the  early  part 
of  the  present  century,  when  the  nation  so  ineffectually  struggled  to 
resume  its  ancient  liberties,  gave  birth  to  two  productions  which  have 
gone  far  to  supply  the  desiderata  in  this  department.  I  allude  to  the 
valuable  works  of  Marina,  on  the  early  legislation  and  on  the  cortes 
of  Castile,  to  which  repeated  reference  has  been  made  in  this  section. 
The  latter,  especially,  presents  us  with  a  full  exposition  of  the  appro- 
priate functions  assigned  to  the  several  departments  of  government, 
and  with  the  parliamentary  history  of  Castile  deduced  from  original, 
unpublished  records.  It  is  unfortunate  that  his  copious  illustrations 
are  arranged  in  so  unskilful  a  manner  as  to  give  a  dry  and  repulsive 
air  to  the  whole  work.  The  original  documents  on  which  it  is  estab- 
lished, instead  of  being  reserved  for  an  appendix,  and  their  import  only 
conveyed  in  the  text,  stare  at  the  reader  in  every  page,  arrayed  in  all 
the  technicalities,  periphrases,  and  repetitions  incident  to  legal  enact- 
ments. The  course  of  the  investigation  is,  moreover,  frequently  inter- 
rupted by  impertinent  dissertations  on  the  constitution  of  1812,  in  which 
the  author  has  fallen  into  abundance  of  crudities,  which  he  would  have 
escaped  had  he  but  witnessed  the  practical  operation  of  those  liberal 
forms  of  government  which  he  so  justly  admires.  The  sanguine  temper 
of  Marina  has  also  betrayed  him  into  the  error  of  putting,  too  uni- 
formly, a  favorable  construction  on  ^he  proceedings  of  the  commons, 
and  of  frequently  deriving  a  constitutional  precedent  from  what  can 
only  be  regarded  as  an  accidental  and  transient  exertion  of  power  in  a 
season  of  popular  excitement. 

The  student  of  this  department  of  Spanish  history  may  consult,  in 
conjunction  with  Marina,  Sempere's  little  treatise,  often  quoted,  on  the 
History  of  the  Castilian  Cortes.    It  is,  indeed,  too  limited  and  desultory 


CASTILE. 


55 


in  its  plan  to  afford  anything  lilce  a  complete  view  of  the  subject.  But, 
as  a  sensible  commentary,  by  one  well  skilled  in  the  topics  that  he  dis- 
cusses, it  is  of  undoubted  value.  Since  the  political  principles  and  bias 
of  the  author  were  of  an  opposite  character  to  Marina's,  they  frequently 
lead  him  to  opposite  conclusions  in  the  investigation  of  the  same  facts. 
Making  all  allowance  for  obvious  prejudices,  Sempere's  work,  there- 
fore, may  be  of  much  use  in  correcting  the  erroneous  impressions 
made  by  the  former  writer,  whose  fabric  of  liberty  too  often  rests,  as 
exemplified  more  than  once  in  the  preceding  pages,  on  an  ideal  basis. 
But,  with  every  deduction,  Marina's  publications  must  be  considered 
an  important  contribution  to  political  science.  They  exhibit  an  able 
analysis  of  a  constitution  which  becomes  singularly  interesting  from 
its  having  furnished,  together  with  that  of  the  sister  kingdom  of  Aragon, 
the  earliest  example  of  representative  government,  as  well  as  from  the 
liberal  principles  on  which  that  government  was  long  administered. 


SECTION    11. 

REVIEW  OF   THE   CONSTITUTION  OF  ARAGON,    TO   THE 
MIDDLE  OF   THE   FIFTEENTH   CENTURY. 

Rise  of  Aragon. — Ricos  Hombres. — ^Their  Immunities. — Their  Turbu- 
lence.— Privileges  of  Union. — The  Legislature. — Its  Forms. — Its 
Powers. — General  Privilege. — ^Judicial  Functions  of  Cortes. — ^The 
Justice. — His  Great  Authority. — Rise  and  Opulence  of  Barcelona.— 
Her  Free  Institutions. — Intellectual  Culture. 


The  political  institutions  of  Aragon,  although  bear- 
ing a  general  resemblance  to  those  of  Castile,  were 
sufficiently  dissimilar  to  stamp  a  peculiar  physiognomy 
on  the  character  of  the  nation,  which  still  continued 
after  it  had  been  incorporated  with  the  great  mass  of 
the  Spanish  monarchy.  It  was  not  until  the  expiration 
of  nearly  five  centuries  after  the  Saracen  invasion  that 
the  little  district  of  Aragon,  growing  up  under  the  shel- 
ter of  the  Pyrenees,  was  expanded  into  the  dimensions 
of  the  province  which  now  bears  that  name.  During  this 
period,  it  was  painfully  struggling  into  being,  like  the 
other  states  of  the  Peninsula,  by  dint  of  fierce,  unin- 
termitted  warfare  with  the  infidel. 

Even  after  this  period,  it  would  probably  have  filled 
but  an  insignificant  space  in  the  map  of  history,  and, 
instead  of  assuming  an  independent  station,  have  been 
compelled,  like  Navarre,  to  accommodate  itself  to  the 
politics  of  the  potent  monarchies  by  which  it  was  i-or- 
rounded,  had  it  not  extended  its  empire  by  a  fortunate 
(56) 


A  RAG  ON, 


vt 


union  with  Catalonia  in  the  twelfth,  and  the  conquest  of 
Valencia  in  the  thirteenth  century.  •  These  new  territories 
were  not  only  far  more  productive  than  its  own,  but,  by 
their  long  line  of  coast  and  commodious  ports,  enabled 
the  Aragonese,  hitherto  pent  up  within  their  barren  moun- 
tains, to  open  a  communication  with  distant  regions. 

The  ancient  county  of  Barcelona  had  reached  a  higher 
degree  of  civilization  than  Aragon,  and  was  distin- 
guished by  institutions  quite  as  liberal.  The  seaboard 
would  seem  to  be  the  natural  seat  of  liberty.  There  is 
something  in  the  very  presence,  in  the  atmosphere  of 
the  ocean,  which  invigorates  not  only  the  physical  but 
the  moral  energies  of  man.  The  adventurous  life  of 
the  mariner  familiarizes  him  with  dangers,  and  early 
accustoms  him  to  independence.  Intercourse  with  va- 
rious climes  opens  new  and  more  copious  sources  of 
knowledge;  and  increased  wealth  brings  with  it  an 
augmentation  of  power  and  consequence.  It  was  in 
the  maritime  cities  scattered  along  the  Mediterranean 
that  the  seeds  of  liberty,  both  in  ancient  and  modern 
times,  were  implanted  and  brought  to  maturity.  During 
the  Middle  Ages,  when  the  people  of  Europe  gener- 
ally maintained  a  toilsome  and  infrequent  intercourse 
with  each  other,  those  situated  on  the  margin  of  this 
inland  ocean  found  an  easy  mode  of  communication 
across  the  highroad  of  its  waters.  They  mingled  in 
war  too  as  in  peace,  and  this  long  period  is  filled 
with  their  international  contests,  while  the  other  free 
cities  of  Christendom  were  wasting  themselves  in  civil 

'  Catalonia  was  united  with  Aragon  by  the  marriage  of  Queen  Petro- 
niUa  with  Raymond  Berengere,  count  of  Barcelona,  in  1150.  Valencia 
was  conquered  from  the  Moors  by  James  I.  in  1238. 

C* 


^ 


INTRODUCTION. 


feuds  and  degrading  domestic  broils.  In  this  wide  and 
various  collision  their  moral  powers  were  quickened 
by  constant  activity;  and  more  enlarged  views  were 
formed,  with  a  deeper  consciousness  of  their  own 
strength,  than  could  be  obtained  by  those  inhabitants 
of  the  interior  who  were  conversant  with  only  a  limited 
range  of  objects,  and  subjected  to  the  influence  of  the 
same  dull,  monotonous  circumstances. 

Among  these  maritime  republics,  those  of  Catalonia 
were  eminently  conspicuous.  By  the  incorporation  of 
this  country  with  the  kingdom  of  Aragon,  therefore, 
the  strength  of  the  latter  was  greatly  augmented.  The 
Aragonese  princes,  well  aware  of  this,  liberally  fostered 
institutions  to  which  the  country  owed  its  prosperity, 
and  skilfully  availed  themselves  of  its  resources  for  the 
aggrandizement  of  their  own  dominions.  They  paid 
particular  attention  to  the  navy,  for  the  more  perfect 
discipline  of  which  a  body  of  laws  was  prepared  by 
Peter  the  Fourth,  in  1354,  that  was  designed  to  render 
it  invincible.  No  allusion  whatever  is  made  in  this 
stern  code  to  the  mode  of  surrendering  to  or  retreating 
from  the  enemy.  The  commander,  who  declined  at- 
tacking any  force  not  exceeding  his  own  by  more  than 
one  vessel,  was  punished  with  death."  The  Catalan 
navy  successfully  disputed  the  empire  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean with  the  fleets  of  Pisa,  and  still  more  of  Genoa. 
With  its  aid;,  the  Aragonese  monarchs  achieved  the  con- 
quest successively  of  Sicily,  Sardinia,  and  the  Balearic 


a  Capmany,  Mem.  de  Barcelona,  torn,  iii.  pp.  45-47. — ^The  Catalans 
were  ntuch  celebrated  during  the  Middle  Ages  for  their  skill  with  the 
crossbow ;  for  a  more  perfect  instruction  in  which,  the  municifjality  of 
Barcelona  established  games  and  gymnasiums.    Ibid.,  torn.  i.  p.  113. 


A  RAG  ON. 


S9 


Isles,  and  annexed  them  to  the  empire.  >  It  penetrated 
into  the  farthest  regions  of  the  Levant;  and  the  expe- 
dition of  the  Catalans  into  Asia,  which  terminated  with 
the  more  splendid  than  useful  acquisition  of  Athens, 
forms  one  of  the  most  romantic  passages  in  ^his  stirring 
and  adventurous  era.* 

But,  while  the  princes  of  Aragon  were  thus  enlarging 
the  bounds  of  their  dominion  abroad,  there  was  proba- 
bly not  a  sovereign  in  Europe  possessed  of  such  limited 
authority  at  home.  The  three  great  states,  with  their 
dependencies,  which  constituted  the  Aragonese  mon- 
archy, had  been  declared  by  a  statute  of  James  the 
Second,  in  1319,  inalienable  and  indivisible.^  Each 
of  them,  however,  maintained  a  separate  constitution 
of  government,  and  was  administered  by  distinct  laws. 
As  it  would  be  fruitless  to  investigate  the  peculiarities 
of  their  respective  institutions,  which  bear  a  very  close 
affinity  to  one  another,  we  may  confine  ourselves  to 
those  of  Aragon,  which  exhibit  a  more  perfect  model 
than  those  either  of  Catalonia  or  Valencia,  and  have 
been  far  more  copiously  illustrated  by  her  writers. 

The  national  historians  refer  the  origin  of  their  gov- 
ernment to  a  written  constitution  of  about  the  middle 

3  Sicily  revolted  to  Peter  III.  in  1282. — Sardinia  was  conquered  by 
James  II.  in  1324,  and  the  Balearic  Isles  by  Peter  IV.  in  1343-4. — 
Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  i.  fol.  247;  torn.  ii.  fol.6o. — Hermilly,  Histoire  du 
Koyaume  de  Majorque  (Maestricht,  1777),  pp.  227-268. 

4  Hence  the  title  of  duke  of  Athens,  assumed  by  the  Spanish  sover- 
eigns. The  brilliant  fortunes  of  Roger  de  Flor  are  related  by  count 
Moncada  (Expedicion  de  los  Catalanes  y  Aragoneses  contra  Turcos  y 
Griegos,  Madrid,  1805),  in  a  style  much  commended  by  Spanish  critics 
for  its  elegance.    See  Mondejar,  Advertencias,  p.  114. 

s  It  was  confirmed  by  Alfonso  III.,  in  1328.  Zurita,  Anales,  torn, 
ii.  fol.  90. 


I 

! 


I     -i 


;]: 


I 


60 


INTRODUCTION. 


of  the  ninth  century,  fragments  of  which  are  still  pre- 
served in  certain  ancient  documents  and  chronicles. 
On  occurrence  of  a  vacancy  in  the  throne,  at  this 
epoch,  a  monarch  was  elected  by  the  twelve  principal 
nobles,  who  prescribed  a  code  of  laws,  to  the  observ- 
ance of  which  he  was  obliged  to  swear  before  assuming 
the  sceptre.  The  import  of  these  laws  was  to  circum- 
scribe within  very  narrow  limits  the  authority  of  the 
sovereign,  distributing  the  principal  functions  to  a 
Justiciar  or  Justice,  and  these  same  peers,  who,  in  case 
of  a  violation  of  the  compact  by  the  monarch,  were 
authorized  to  withdraw  their  allegiance,  and,  in  the 
bold  language  of  the  ordinance,  "to  substitute  any 
other  ruler  in  his  stead,  even  a  pagan,  if  they  listed."* 
The  whole  of  this  wears  much  of  a  fabulous  aspect, 
and  may  remind  the  reader  of  the  government  whicli 
Ulysses  met  with  in  Phgeacia;  where  King  Alcinous 
is  surrounded  by  his  "twelve  illustrious  peers  or  ar- 
chons,"  subordinate  to  himself,  "who,"  says  he,  "rule 
over  the  people,  I  myself  being  the  thirteenth."'    But, 

*  See  the  fragments  of  the  Fuero  de  Soprarbe,  cited  by  Blancas, 
Aragonensium  Rerum  Coj.imentarii  (Caesaraugustae,  1588),  pp.  25-29. 
— ^The  well-known  oath  of  the  Aragonese  to  their  sovereign  on  his  ac- 
cession, "  Nos  que  valemos  tanto  como  vos,"  etc.,  frequently  quoted 
by  historians,  rests  on  the  authority  of  Antonio  Perez,  the  unfortunate 
minister  of  Philip  II.,  who,  however  good  a  voucher  for  the  usages  of 
his  own  time,  has  made  a  blunder  in  the  very  sentence  preceding  this, 
by  confounding  the  Privilege  of  Union  with  one  of  the  Laws  of  So- 
prarbe, which  shows  him  to  be  insufficient,  especially  as  he  is  the  only, 
authority  for  this  ancient  ceremony.  See  Antonio  Perez,  Relaciones 
(Paris,  1598),  fol.  92. 

7  AudcKO  yitp  Karh.  dt)fJov  upnrpEnieg  (iaaik^eg 
Apxol  Kpaivovai,  TpiaKatMKaTog  6'  kyu  avrog. 

Odyss.  0.  390. 

In  like  manner  Alf»>nso  III.  alludes  to  "  the  ancient  times  in  Aragon, 


ARAGON. 


6i 


whether  true  or  not,  this  venerable  tradition  must  be 

admitted  to  have  been  well  calculated  to  repress  the 

arrogance  of  the  Aragonese  monarchs,  and  to  exalt  the 

minds  of  their  subjects  by  the  image  of  ancient  liberty 

which  it  presented.^ 

The  great  barons  of  Aragon  were  few  in  number. 

They  affected  to  derive  their  descent  from  the  twelve 

peers  above  mentioned,  and  were  styled  ricos  hotnbres 

de  natura,  implying  by  this  epithet  that  they  were  not 

indebted  for  their  creation  to  the  will  of  the  sovereign. 

No  estate  could  be  legally  conferred  by  the  crown,  as 

an  honor  (the  denomination  of  fiefs  in  Aragon),  on  any 

but  one  of  these  high  nobles.     This,  however,  was  in 

time  evaded  by  the  monarchs,  who  advanced  certain 

of  their  own  retainers  to  a  level  with  the  ancient  peers 

of  the  land ;  a  measure  which  proved  a  fruitful  source 

of  disquietude."    No  baron  could  be  divested  of  his 

when  there  were  as  many  kings  as  ricos  hombres."  See  Zurita,  Anales, 
torn,  i.  fol.  316. 

8  The  authenticity  of  the  "  Fuero  de  Soprarbe"  has  been  keenly 
debated  by  the  Aragonese  and  Navarrese  writers.  Moret,  in  refuta- 
tion of  Blancas,  who  espouses  it  (see  Commentarii,  p.  289),  states  that, 
after  a  diligent  investigation  of  the  archives  of  that  region,  he  finds  no 
mention  of  the  laws,  or  even  of  the  name,  of  Soprarbe,  until  the 
eleventh  century ;  a  startling  circumstance  for  the  antiquary.  (Inves- 
tigaciones  historicas  de  las  Antigiiedades  del  Reyno  de  Navarra 
(Pamplona,  1766),  torn.  vi.  lib.  2,  cap.  11.)  Indeed,  the  historians  of 
Aragon  admit  that  the  public  documents  previous  to  the  fourteenth 
century  suffered  so  much  from  various  causes  as  to  leave  comparatively 
few  materials  for  authentic  narrative.  (Blancas,  Commentarii,  Pref. — 
Risco,  Espafia  sagrada,  torn.  xxx.  Prologo.)  Blancas  transcribed  his 
extract  of  the  Laws  of  Soprarbe  principally  from  Prince  Charles  of 
Viana's  History,  written  in  the  fifteenth  century.    See  Commentarii, 

P-  25. 

9  Asso  y  Manuel,  Instituciones,  pp.  39,  40. — Blancas,  Commentarii, 
pp.  333, 334,  340. — Fueros  y  Observancias  del  Reyno  de  Aragon  (Zara- 


63 


INTRODUCTION. 


fief,  unless  by  public  sentence  of  the  Justice  and  the 
cortes.  The  proprietor,  however,  was  required,  as 
usual,  to  attend  the  king  in  council,  and  to  perform 
military  service,  when  summoned,  during  two  months 
in  the  year,  at  his  own  charge." 

The  privileges,  both  honorary  and  substantial,  en- 
joyed by  the  ricos  hombres  were  very  considerable. 
They  filled  the  highest  posts  in  the  state.  They  origi- 
nally appointed  judges  in  their  domains  for  the  cogni- 
zance of  certain  civil  causes,  and  over  a  class  of  their 
vassals  exercised  an  unlimited  criminal  jurisdiction. 
They  were  excused  from  taxation  except  in  specified 
cases;  were  exempted  from  all  corporal  and  capital 
punishment ;  nor  could  they  be  imprisoned,  although 
their  estates  might  be  sequestrated,  for  debt.  A  lower 
class  of  nobility,  styled  infanzones,  equivalent  to  the 
Castilian  hidalgos,  together  with  the  caballeros,  or 
knights,  were  also  possessed  of  important  though 
inferior  immunities." 

The  king  distributed  among  the  great  barons  the  ter- 
ritory reconquered  from  the  Moors,  in  proportions 

goza,  1667),  torn.  i.  fol.  130. — ^The  ricos  hombres  thus  created  by  the 
monarch  were  styled  de  mesnada,  signifying  "of  the  household."  It 
was  lawful  for  a  rico  hombre  to  bequeath  his  honors  to  whichsoever  of 
his  legitimate  children  he  might  prefer,  and,  in  default  of  issue,  to  his 
nearest  of  kin.  He  was  bound  to  distribute  the  bulk  of  his  estates  in 
fiefs  among  his  knights,  so  that  a  complete  system  of  subinfeudation 
was  established.  The  knights,  on  restoring  their  fiefs,  might  change 
their  suzerains  at  pleasure. 

10  Asso  y  Manuel,  Instituciones,  p.  41. — Blancas,  Commentarii,  pp. 
307,  322,  331. 

»'  Fueros  y  Observancias,  tom.  i.  fol.  130. — Martel,  Forma  de  cele- 
brar  Cortes  en  Aragon  (Zaragoza,  1641),  p.  98. — Blancas,  Commentarii, 
pp.  306,  312-317,  323,  360. — Asso  y  Manuel,  Instituciones,  pp.  40-43. 


ARAGON, 


63 


determined  by  the  amount  of  their  respective  services. 
We  find  a  stipulation  to  this  effect  from  James  the 
First  to  his  nobles,  previous  to  his  invasion  of  Majorca." 
On  a  similar  principle  they  claimed  nearly  the  whole 
of  Valencia."  On  occupying  a  city,  it  was  usual  to 
divide  it  into  barrios,  or  districts,  each  of  which  was 
granted  by  way  of  fief  to  some  one  of  the  ricos  hom- 
bres,  from  which  he  was  to  derive  his  revenue.  What 
proportion  of  the  conquered  territory  was  reserved  for 
the  royal  demesne  does  not  appear.'*  We  find  one  of 
these  nobles,  Bernard  de  Cabrera,  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  fourteenth  century,  manning  a  fleet  of  king's 
ships  on  his  own  credit;  another,  of  the  ancient 
family  of  Luna,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  so  wealthy 
that  he  could  travel  through  an  almost  unbroken  line 
of  his  estates  all  the  way  from  Castile  to  France. '^ 
With  all  this,  their  incomes  in  general,  in  this  com- 
paratively poor  country,  were  very  inferior  to  those  of 
the  great  Castilian  lords.'* 

The  laws  conceded  certain  powers  to  the  aristocracy, 
of  a  most  dangerous  character.  They  were  entitled, 
like  the  nobles  of  the  sister  kingdom,  to  defy,  and  pub- 
licly renounce  their  allegiance  to,  their  sovereign,  with 
the  whimsical  privilege,  in  addition,  of  commending 
their  families  and  estates  to  his  protection,  which  he 

»»  Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  i.  fol.  124. 

»3  Blancas,  Commentarii,  p.  334. 

M  See  the  partition  of  Saragossa  by  Alonso  the  Warrior.  Zurita, 
Anales,  torn.  i.  fol.  43. 

'5  Mariana,  Hist,  de  Espafia,  torn.  ii.  p.  198. — Blancas,  Commen- 
tarii, p.  218. 

««  See  a  register  of  these  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
apud  L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  25. 


64 


INTRODUCTION, 


was  obliged  to  accord  until  they  were  again  recon- 
ciled.*' The  mischievous  right  of  private  war  was  re- 
peatedly recognized  by  statute.  It  was  claimed  and 
exercised  in  its  full  extent,  and  occasionally  with  cir- 
cumstances of  peculiar  atrocity.  An  instance  is  re- 
corded by  Zurita  of  a  bloody  feud  between  two  of 
these  nobles,  prosecuted  with  such  inveteracy  that  the 
parties  bound  themselves  by  solemn  oath  never  to  de- 
sist from  it  during  their  lives,  and  to  resist  every  effort, 
even  on  the  part  of  the  crown  itself,  to  effect  a  pacifi- 
cation between  them."  This  remnant  of  barbarism 
lingered  longer  in  Aragon  than  in  any  other  country 
in  Christendom. 

The  Aragonese  sovereigns,  who  were  many  of  them 
possessed  of  singular  capacity  and  vigor,**  made  re- 
peated efforts  to  reduce  the  authority  of  their  nobles 
within  more  temperate  limits.  Peter  the  Second,  by 
a  bold  stretch  of  prerogative,  stripped  them  of  their 
most  important  rights  of  jurisdiction."   James  the  Con- 


*7  Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  ii.  fid.  127. — Bhnras,  Commentarii,  p.  334. 
— ^"Adhaec  Ricis  hominibtis  ipsis  majonun  more  institutisque  conce- 
debatur,  ut  sese  possent,  dam  qisi  vellent,  a  nostrorum  Regum  jure  et 
potestate,  quasi  nodum  aliqaem,  expedire;  neque  expedire  solum,  sed 
dimisso  prtMS,  quo  potiremtmr,  Homore,  beUum  ipsis  infeire ;  Reges  vero 
Rici  hominis  sic  expediti  uxorem,  filios,  fiuniliam,  res,  bona,  et  fortunas 
omnes  in  suam  recipere  fidem  tenebantur.  Neque  ulla  erat  eorum 
utilitatis  fiicienda  jactura." 

x8  Fueios  y  Observancias.  tom.  L  p.  84. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  i.  fol. 
350. 

19  Blancas  somewhere  boasts  that  no  one  of  the  kings  of  Aragon  has 
been  stigmatized  by  a  cognomen  of  in£uny,  as  in  most  of  the  other 
royal  races  of  Europe.  Peter  IV.. "  the  Ceremonious,"  richly  deserved 
one. 

■<*  Zurita,  Anales,  tom.  L  fol.  loa. 


:|      I 


ARAGON. 


65 


fol. 


queror  artfully  endeavored  to  counterbalance  their 
weight  by  that  of  the  commons  and  the  ecclesiastics." 
But  they  were  too  formidable  when  united,  and  too 
easily  united,  to  be  successfully  assailed.  The  Moor- 
ish wars  terminated,  in  Aragon,  with  the  conquest  of 
Valencia,  or  rather  the  invasion  of  Murcia,  by  the  mid- 
dle of  the  thirteenth  century.  The  tumultuous  spirits 
of  the  aristocracy,  therefore,  instead  of  finding  a  vent, 
as  in  Castile,  in  these  foreign  expeditions,  were  turned 
within,  and  convulsed  their  own  country  with  perpet- 
ual revolution.  Haughty  from  the  consciousness  of 
their  exclusive  privileges  and  of  the  limited  number 
who  monopolized  them,  the  Aragonese  barons  regarded 
themselves  rather  as  the  rivals  of  their  sovereign  than 
as  his  inferiors.  Intrenched  within  the  mountain  fast- 
nesses which  the  rugged  nature  of  the  country  every- 
where afforded,  they  easily  bade  defiance  to  his  au- 
thority. Their  small  number  gave  a  compactness 
and  concert  to  their  operations  which  could  not  have 
been  obtained  in  a  multitudinous  body.  Ferdinand 
the  Catholic  well  discriminated  the  relative  position 
of  the  Aragonese  and  Castilian  nobility,  by  saying, 
"  it  was  as  difficult  to  divide  the  one  as  to  unite  the 
other."" 

These  combinations  became  still  more  frequent  after 
formally  receiving  the  approbation  of  King  Alfonso  the 
Third,  who,  in  1287,  signed  the  two  celebrated  ordi- 
nances entitled  the  "Privileges  of  Union,"  by  which 
his  subjects  were  authorized  to  resort  to  arms  on  an 

"^  Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  i.  fol.  198. — He  recommended  this  policy  to 
his  son-in-law,  the  king  of  Castile. 
*»  Sempere,  Histoire  des  Cortfes,  p.  164. 
Vol.  I.— s 


66 


INTRODUCTION. 


infringement  of  their  liberties."'  The  hermandad  of 
'Castile  had  never  been  countenanced  by  legislative 
sanction;  it  was  chiefly  resorted  to  as  a  measure  of 
police,  and  was  directed  more  frequently  against  the 
disorders  of  the  nobility  than  of  the  sovereign ;  it  was 
organized  with  difficulty,  and,  compared  with  the  Union 
of  Aragon,  was  cumbrous  and  languid  in  its  operations. 
While  these  privileges  continued  in  force,  the  nation 
was  delivered  over  to  the  most  frightful  anarchy.  The 
least  offensive  movement  on  the  part  of  the  monarch, 
the  slightest  encroachment  on  personal  right  or  priv- 
ilege, was  the  signal  for  a  general  revolt.  At  the  cry 
of  Uhiony  that  "last  voice,"  says  the  enthusiastic  his- 
torian, ''of  the  expiring  republic,  full  of  authority  and 
majesty,  and  an  open  indication  of  the  insolence  of 
kings,"  the  nobles  and  thie  citizens  eagerly  rushed  to 
arms.  The  principal  castles  belonging  to  the  former 
were  pledged  as  security  for  their  fidelity,  and  intrusted 
to  conservators,  as  they  were  styled,  whose  duty  it  was 
to  direct  the  operations  and  watch  over  the  interests  of 
the  Union.  A  common  seal  was  prepared,  bearing  the 
device  of  armed  men  kneeling  before  their  king,  inti- 
mating at  once  their  loyalty  and  their  resolution,  and 
a  similar  device  was  displayed  on  the  standard  and  the 
other  military  insignia  of  the  confederates.^ 

The  power  of  the  monarch  was  as  nothing  before 
this  formidable  array.  The  Union  appointed  a  council 
to  control  all  his  movements,  and,  in  fact,  during  the 

"i  Zurita,  Anales,  lib.  4,  cap.  96. — Abarca  dates  this  event  in  the  year 
preceding.  Reyes  de  Aragon,  en  Anales  hist6ricos  (Madrid,  1682- 
X684),  torn.  ii.  fol.  8. 

a*  Blancas,  Commentarii,  pp.  192,  193. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  i.  fol. 
«66  et  alibi. 


ARAGON. 


67 


i.  fol. 


whole  period  of  its  existence,  the  reigns  of  four  suc- 
cessive monarchs,  it  may  be  said  to  have  dictated  law 
to  the  land.  At  length  Peter  the  Fourth,  a  despot  in 
heart,  and  naturally  enough  impatient  of  this  eclipse 
of  regal  prerogative,  brought  the  matter  to  an  issue  by 
defeating  the  army  of  the  Union,  at  the  memorable 
battle  of  Epila,  in  1348,  **the  last,"  says  Zurita,  "in 
which  it  was  permitted  to  the  subject  to  take  up  arms 
against  the  sovereign  for  the  cause  of  liberty."  Then, 
convoking  an  assembly  of  the  states  at  Saragossa,  he 
produced  before  them  the  instrument  containing  the 
two  Privileges,  and  cut  it  in  pieces  with  his  dagger.  In 
doing  this,  having  wounded  himself  in  the  hand,  he 
suffered  the  blood  to  trickle  upon  the  parchment,  ex- 
claiming that  "a  law  which  had  been  the  occasion  of 
so  much  blood  should  be  blotted  out  by  the  blood  of 
a  king."'s  All  copies  of  it,  whether  in  the  public  ar- 
chives or  in  the  possession  of  private  individuals,  were 
ordered,  under  a  heavy  penalty,  to  be  destroyed.  The 
statute  passed  to  that  effect  carefully  omits  the  date  of 
the  detested  instrument,  that  all  evidence  of  its  exist- 
ence might  perish  with  it."* 

Instead  of  abusing  his  victory,  as  might  have  been  an- 
ticipated from  his  character,  Peter  adopted  a  far  more 

3S  Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  ii.  fol.  126-130. — Blancas,  Commentaiii.  iq). 
19S-197. — Hence  he  was  styled  "  Peter  of  the  Dagger;"  and  a  statue 
of  him,  bearing  in  one  hand  this  weapon  and  in  the  other  the  Privil^re, 
stood  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputation  at  Saragossa  in  Hiilip  II.'s  time. 
See  Antonio  Perez,  Relaciones,  fol.  95. 

*  See  the  statute,  De  Prohibita  Unione,  etc. — Fueros  y  Observancias, 
torn.  i.  fol.  178. — A  copy  of  the  original  Privileges  was  detected  by 
Blancas  among  the  manuscripts  of  the  archbishop  of  Saragossa ;  but 
he  declined  publishing  it,  from  deference  to  the  prohibition  of  his  an- 
cestors.   Commentarii,  p.  179. 


V 


68 


INTRODUCTION, 


magnanimous  policy.  He  confirmed  the  ancient  privi- 
leges of  the  realm,  and  made  in  addition  other  wise 
and  salutary  concessions.  From  this  period,  therefore, 
is  to  be  dated  the  possession  of  constitutional  liberty  in 
Aragon  (for  surely  the  reign  of  unbridled  license,  above 
described,  is  not  deserving  that  name) ;  and  this  not 
so  much  from  the  acquisition  of  new  immunities,  as 
from  the  more  perfect  security  afforded  for  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  old.  The  court  of  \h&  Justiciay  that  great 
barrier  interposed  by  the  constitution  between  despot- 
ism on  the  one  hand  and  popular  license  on  the  other, 
was  more  strongly  protected,  and  causes  hitherto  de- 
cided by  arms  were  referred  for  adjudication  to  this 
tribunal."^  From  this  period,  too,  the  cortes,  whose 
voice  was  scarcely  heard  amid  the  wild  uproar  of  pre- 
ceding times,  was  allowed  to  extend  a  beneficial  and 
protecting  sway  over  the  land.  And,  although  the 
social  history  of  Aragon,  like  that  of  other  countries 
in  this  rude  age,  is  too  often  stained  with  deeds  of  vio- 
lence and  personal  feuds,  yet  the  state  at  large,  under 
the  steady  operation  of  its  laws,  probably  enjoyed  a 
more  uninterrupted  tranquillity  than  fell  to  the  lot  of 
any  other  nation  in  Europe. 

The  Aragonese  cortes  was  composed  of  four  branches, 
or  arms;*  the  ricos  hombres,  or  great  barons;   the 

37  "  Haec  itaque  domestica  Regis  victoria,  quae  miserrimum  universae 
Reipublicae  interitum  videbatur  esse  allatura,  stabilem  nobis  constituit 
pacem,  tranquillitatem,  et  otium.  Inde  enim  Magistratus  Justitiae  Ara- 
gonum  in  eam.quain  nunc  colimus,  amplitudinem  dignitatis  devenit." 
Ibid.,  p.  197. 

*  Martel,  Forma  de  celebrar  Cortes,  cap.  8. — "  Bra90s  del  reino, 
porque  abrafan,  y  tienen  en  si." — The  cortes  consisted  only  of  three 
arms  in  Catalonia  and  Valencia;  both  the  greater  and  lesser  nobility 


ARAGON. 


^ 


lesser  nobles,  comprehending  the  knights ;  the  clergy ; 
and  the  commons.  The  nobility  of  every  denomina- 
tion were  entitled  to  a  seat  in  the  legislature.  The  ricos 
hombres  were  allowed  to  appear  by  proxy,  and  a  simi- 
lar privilege  was  enjoyed  by  baronial  heiresses.  The 
number  of  this  body  was  very  limited,  twelve  of  them 
constituting  a  quorum. '^ 

The  arm  of  the  ecclesiastics  embraced  an  ample  del- 
egation from  the  inferior  as  well  as  higher  clergy.''  It 
is  affirmed  not  to  have  been  a  component  of  the  national 
legislature  until  more  than  a  century  and  a  half  after 
the  admission  of  the  commons.^  Indeed,  the  influence 
of  the  church  was  much  less  sensible  in  Aragon  than  in 
the  other  kingdoms  of  the  Peninsula.  Notwithstanding 
the  humiliating  concessions  of  certain  of  their  princes  to 
the  papal  see,  they  were  never  recognized  by  the  nation, 
who  uniformly  asserted  their  independence  of  the  tem- 
poral supremacy  of  Rome,  and  who,  as  we  shall  see  here- 
after, resisted  the  introduction  of  the  Inquisition,  that 
last  stretch  of  ecclesiastical  usurpation,  even  to  blood.^ 


sitting  in  the  same  chamber.  Perguera,  Cortes  en  Catalufia,  and 
Matheu  y  Sanz,  Constitucion  de  Valencia,  apud  Capmany,  Prdctica  y 
Estilo,  pp.  6s,  183, 184. 

9  Martel,  Forma  de  celebrar  Cortes,  cap.  10,  17,  21,  46. — Blancas, 
Modo  de  proceder  en  Cortes  de  Aragon  (Zaragoza,  1641),  fol.  17,  18, 

30  Capmany,  Prdctica  y  Estilo,  p.  12. 

3<  Blancas,  Modo  de  proceder,  fol.  14, — and  Commentarii,  p.  374. — 
Zurita,  indeed,  gives  repeated  instances  of  their  convocation  in  the 
thirteenth  and  twelfth  centuries,  from  a  date  almost  coeval  with  that  of 
the  commons;  yet  Blancas,  who  made  this  subject  his  particular  study, 
who  wrote  posterior  to  Zurita,  and  occasionally  refers  to  him,  post]x>nes 
the  era  of  their  admission  into  the  legislature  to  the  beginning  of  the 
fourteenth  century. 

3^  One  of  the  monarchs  of  Aragon,  Alfonso  the  Warrior,  according 


70 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  commons  enjoyed  higher  consideration  and  civil 
privileges  than  in  Castile.  For  this  they  were  perhaps 
somewhat  indebted  to  the  example  of  their  Catalan 
neighbors,  the  influence  of  whose  democratic  institu- 
tions naturally  extended  to  other  parts  of  the  Aragon- 
ese  monarchy.  The  charters  of  certain  cities  accorded 
to  the  inhabitants  privileges  of  nobility,  particularly  that 
of  immunity  from  taxation ;  while  the  magistrates  of 
others  were  permitted  to  take  their  seats  in  the  order  of 
hidalgos.^  From  a  very  early  period  we  find  them 
employed  in  offices  of  public  trust,  and  on  important 
missions.3*  The  epoch  of  their  admission  into  the 
national  assembly  is  traced  as  far  back  as  1133,  several 
years  earlier  than  the  commencement  of  popular  repre- 
sentation in  Castile's  Each  city  had  the  right  of  send- 
ing two  or  more  deputies  selected  from  persons  eligible 
to  its  magistracy;  but  with  the  privilege  of  only  one 
vote,  whatever  might  be  the  number  of  its  deputies. 


vm 


to  Mariana,  bequeathed  all  his  dominions  to  the  Templars  and  Hos- 
pitallers. Another,  Peter  II.,  agreed  to  hold  his  kingdom  as  a  fief  of 
the  see  of  Rome,  and  to  pay  it  an  annual  tribute.  (Hist,  de  Espana, 
tom.  i.  pp.  596,  664.)  This  so  much  disgusted  the  people  that  they 
compelled  his  successors  to  make  a  public  protest  against  the  claims 
of  the  church,  before  their  coronation. — See  Blancas,  Coronaciones  de 
los  serenisimos  Reyes  de  Aragon  (Zaragoza,  1641),  cap.  2. 

33  Martel,  Forma  de  celebrar  Cortes,  cap.  32. — Asso  y  Manuel,  In- 
stituciones,  p.  44. 

34  Zurita,  Anales,  tom.  i.  fol.  163,  A.D.  1250. 

35  Ibid.,  tom.  i.  fol.  51. — ^The  earliest  appearance  of  popular  reprer 
sentation  in  Catalonia  is  fixed  by  Ripoll  at  1283  (apud  Capmany, 
Prdctica  y  Estilo,  p.  135).  What  can  Capmany  mean  by  postponing 
the  introduction  of  the  commons  into  the  cortes  of  Aragon  to  1300? 
(See  p.  56.)  Their  presence  and  names  are  commemorated  by  the 
exact  Zurita,  several  times  before  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century. 


ARAGON. 


7« 


Any  place  which  had  been  once  represented  in  cortes 
might  always  claim  to  be  so.^ 

By  a  statute  of  1307,  the  convocation  of  the  states, 
which  had  been  annual,  was  declared  biennial.  The 
kings,  however,  paid  little  regard  to  this  provision, 
rarely  summoning  them  except  for  some  specific  neces- 
sity.'' The  great  officers  of  the  crown,  whatever  might 
be  their  personal  rank,  were  jealously  excluded  from 
their  deliberations..  The  session  was  opened  by  an  ad- 
dress from  the  king  in  person,  a  point  of  which  they 
were  very  tenacious;  after  which  the  different  arms 
withdrew  to  their  separate  apartments.^  The  greatest 
scrupulousness  was  manifested  in  maintaining  the  rights 
and  dignity  of  the  body ;  and  their  intercourse  with 
one  another,  and  with  the  king,  was  regulated  by  the 
most  precise  forms  of  parliamentary  etiquette."    The 


In- 


3*  Prdctica  y  E^tilo,  pp.  14,  17,  18,  30. — Martel,  Forma  de  celebrar 
Cortes,  cap.  10. — ^Those  who  followed  a  mechanical  occupation,  in- 
cluding surgeons  and  apothecaries,  were  excluded  from  a  seat  in  cortes. 
(Cap.  17.)  The  faculty  have  rarely  been  treated  with  so  littFe  cere- 
mony. 

37  Martel,  Forma  de  celebrar  Cortes,  cap.  7. — The  cortes  appear  to 
have  been  more  frequently  convoked  in  the  fourteenth  century  than  in 
any  other.  Blancas  refers  to  no  less  than  twenty-three  within  that 
period,  averaging  nearly  one  in  four  years.  (Commentarii,  Index, 
voce  Comitia.)  In  Catalonia  and  Valencia,  the  cortes  was  to  be  sum- 
moned every  three  years.  Berart,  Discurso  breve  sobre  la  Celebracion 
de  Cortes  de  Aragon  (1626),  fol.  12. 

38  Capmany,  Prdctica  y  Estilo,  p.  15.— Blancas  has  preserved  a 
specimen  of  an  address  from  the  throne,  in  1398,  in  which  the  king, 
after  selecting  some  moral  apothegm  as  a  text,  rambles  for  the  space  of 
half  an  hour  through  Scripture,  history,  etc.,  and  concludes  with 
announcing  the  object  of  his  convening  the  cortes  together,  in  three 
lines.    Commentarii,  pp.  376-380. 

39  See  the  ceremonial  detailed  with   sufficient  prolixity  by  Martel 


7« 


INTRODUCTION. 


subjects  of  deliberation  were  referred  to  a  committee 
from  each  order,  who,  after  conferring  together,  re- 
ported to  their  several  departments.  Every  question, 
it  may  be  presumed,  underwent  a  careful  examination ; 
as  the  legislature,  we  are  told,  was  usually  divided  into 
two  parties,  "  the  one  maintaining  the  rights  pf  the 
monarch,  the  other,  those  of  the  nation,"  correspond- 
ing nearly  enough  with  those  of  our  day.  It  was  in  the 
power  of  any  member  to  defeat  the  passage  of  a  bill, 
by  opposing  to  it  his  veto  or  dissent,  formally  registered 
to  that  effect.  He  might  even  interpose  his  negative 
on  the  proceedings  of  the  house,  and  thus  put  a  stop  to 
the  prosecution  of  all  further  business  during  the  ses- 
sion. This  anomalous  privilege,  transcending  even 
that  claimed  in  the  Polish  diet,  must  have  been  too 
invidious  in  its  exercise,  and  too  pernicious  in  its  conse- 
quences, to  have  been  often  resorted  to.  This  may  be 
inferred  from  the  fact  that  it  was  not  formally  repealed 
until  the  reign  of  Philip  the  Second,  in  1592.  During 
the  interval  of  the  sessions  of  the  legislature,  a  depu- 
tation of  eight  was  appointed,  two  from  each  arm, 
to  preside  over  public  affairs,  particularly  in  regard  to 
the  revenue,  and  the  security  of  justice ;  with  authority 
to  convoke  a  cortes  extraordinary,  whenever  the  exi- 
gency might  demand  it.*" 

(Forma  de  celebrar  Cortes,  cap.  5a,  53),  and  a  curious  illustration  of  it 
in  Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  313. 

*>  Capmany,  Prdctica  y  Estilo,  pp.  44  et  seq. — Martel,  Forma  de 
celebrar  Cortes,  cap.  50,  60  et  seq. — Fueros  y  Observancias,  torn.  i. 
fol.  339. — Blancas,  Modo  de  proceder,  fol.  2-4. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn, 
iii.  fol.  321. — Robertson,  misinterpreting  a  passage  of  Blancas  (Com- 
mentarii,  p.  37s),  states  that  a  "session  of  cortes  continued  forty 
days."  (History  of  Charles  V.,  vol.  i.  p.  140.)  It  usually  lasted 
months. 


A  RAG  ON. 


73 


re- 


of  it 


The  cortes  exercised  the  highest  functions  whether 
of  a  deliberative,  legislative,  or  judicial  nature.  It 
had  a  right  to  be  consulted  on  all  matters  of  impor- 
tance, esi)eciaUy  on  those  of  peace  and  war.  No  law 
was  valid,  no  tax  could  be  imposed,  without  its  con- 
sent ;  and  it  carefully  provided  for  the  application  of 
the  revenue  to  its  destined  uses.*'  It  determined  the 
succession  to  the  crown,  removed  obnoxious  ministers, 
reformed  the  household  and  domestic  expenditure  of 
the  monarch,  and  exercised  the  power,  in  the  most 
unreserved  manner,  of  withholding  supplies,  as  well  as 
of  resisting  what  it  regarded  as  an  encroachment  on 
the  liberties  of  the  nation.*" 

The  excellent  commentators  on  the  constitution  of 
Aragon  have  bestowed  comparatively  little  attention 
on  the  development  of  its  parliamentary  history ;  con- 
fining themselves  too  exclusively  to  mere  forms  of 
procedure.  The  defect  has  been  greatly  obviated  by 
the  copiousness  of  their  general  historians.  But  the 
statute-book  affords  the  most  unequivocal  evidence  of 
the  fidelity  with  which  the  guardians  of  the  realm  dis- 
charged the  high  trust  reposed  in  them,  in  the  numer- 
ous enactments  it  exhibits  for  the  security  both  of 
person  and  property.     Almost  the  first  page  which 

<*  Fueros  y  Observancias,  fol.  6,  tit.  Privileg.  Gen. — Blancas,  Com- 
mentarii,  p.  371. — Capmany,  Prdctica  y  Estilo,  p.  51. — It  was  anciently 
the  practice  of  the  legislature  to  grant  supplies  of  troops,  but  not  of 
money.  When  Peter  IV.  requested  a  pecuniary  subsidy,  the  cortes 
told  him  that "  such  things  had  not  been  usual ;  that  his  Christian  sub- 
jects were  wont  to  serve  him  with  their  i>ersons,  and  it  was  only  for 
Jews  and  Moors  to  serve  him  with  money."  Blancas,  Modo  de  pro- 
ceder,  cap.  18. 

*»  See  examples  of  them  in  Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  i.  fol.  51,  263 ;  torn. 
ii.  fol.  391,  394,  424. — Blancas,  Modo  dc  proceder,  fol.  98,  106. 

D 


74 


INTRODUCTION. 


meets  the  eye  in  this  venerable  record  contains  the 
General  Privilege,  the  Magna  Charta,  as  it  has  been 
well  denominated,  of  Aragon.  It  was  granted  by 
Peter  the  Great  to  the  cortes  at  Saragossa,  in  1283.  It 
embraces  a  variety  of  provisions  for  the  fair  and  open 
administration  of  justice;  for  ascertaining  the  legiti- 
mate powers  intrusted  to  the  cortes;  for  the  security 
of  property  against  exactions  of  the  crown ;  and  for 
the  conservation  of  their  legal  immunities  to  the  muni- 
cipal corporations  and  the  different  orders  of  nobility. 
In  short,  the  distinguishing  excellence  of  this  instru- 
ment, like  that  of  Magna  Charta,  consists  in  the  wise 
and  equitable  protection  wiiich  it  affords  to  all  classes 
of  the  community. '•^  The  General  Privilege,  instead 
of  being  wrested,  like  King  John's  charter,  from  a 
pusillanimous  prince,  was  conceded,  reluctantly  enough, 
it  is  true,  in  an  assembly  of  the  nation,  by  one  of  the 
ablest  monarchs  who  ever  sat  on  the  throne  of  Aragon, 
at  a  time  when  his  arms,  crowned  with  repeated  victory, 
had  secured  to  the  state  the  most  important  01  her 
foreign  acquisitions. 

The  Aragonese,  who  rightly  regarded  the  General 
Privilege  as  the  broadest  basis  of  their  liberties,  re- 
peatedly procured  its  confirmation  by  succeeding  sover- 

43  "  There  was  such  a  conformity  of  sentiment  among  all  parties," 
says  Zurita,  "  that  the  privileges  of  the  nobility  were  no  better  secured 
than  those  of  the  commons.  For  the  Aragonese  deemed  that  the  ex- 
istence of  the  commonwealth  depended  not  so  much  on  its  strength 
as  on  its  liberties."  (Anales,  lib.  4,  cap.  38.)  In  the  confirmation 
of  tile  privilege  by  James  II.,  in  1325,  torture,  then  generally  recog- 
nized by  the  municipal  law  of  Europe,  was  e.'cpressly  prohibited  in 
Aragon,  "  as  umvorthy  of  freemen."  See  Zurita,  Anales,  lib.  6,  cap. 
61,  and  Fueros  y  Observancias,  torn,  i,  fol.  9,  Declaratio  Priv, 
(jeneralis. 


A  HAG  ON. 


75 


eigns.  "By  so  many  and  such  various  precautions," 
says  Blancas,  "  did  our  ancestors  establish  that  freedom 
which  their  posterity  have  enjoyed  ;  manifesting  a  wise 
solicitude  that  all  orders  of  men,  even  kings  themselves, 
confined  within  their  own  sphere,  should  discharge  their 
legitimate  functions  without  jostling  or  jarring  with 
one  another;  for  in  this  harmony  consists  the  tem- 
perance of  om  government.  Alas!"  he  adds,  *Miow 
much  of  all  this  has  fallen  into  desuetude  from  its 
antiquity,  or  been  effaced  by  new  customs!"^ 

The  judicial  functions  of  the  cortes  have  not  been 
sufficiently  noticed  by  writers.  They  were  extensive 
in  their  operation,  and  gave  it  the  name  of  the  General 
Court.  They  were  principally  directed  to  protect  the 
subject  from  the  oppressions  of  the  crown  and  its  offi- 
cers; over  all  which  cases  it  possessed  original  and  ulti- 
mate jurisdiction.  The  suit  was  conducted  before  the 
Justice,  as  president  of  the  cortes  in  its  judicial  capa- 
city, who  delivered  an  opinion  conformable  to  the  will 


44  The  patriotism  of  Blancas  warms  as  he  dwells  on  the  illusory  pic- 
ture of  ancient  virtue  and  contrasts  it  with  the  degeneracy  of  his  own 
day:  "  Et  vero  prisca  haec  tanta  severitas,  desertaque  ilia  et  inculta 
vita,  quando  dies  noctesque  nostri  armati  concursabant,  ac  in  bello  et 
Maurorum  sanguine  assidui  versabantur,  ver^  quidem  parsimoniae, 
fortitudinis,  temperantiae,  caeterarumque  virtutum  omnium  magistra 
fuit.  In  qua  maleficia  ac  scelera,  quas  nunc  in  otiosa  hac  nostra  um- 
bratili  et  delicata  gignuntur,  gigni  non  solebant ;  quia  immo  ita  tunc 
sequaliter  omnes  omni  genere  virtutum  floruere,  ut  egregia  hoec  laus 
videatur  noti  hominum  solum,  vcrum  illorum  etiam  temporum  furese." 
(Commentarii,  p.  340.)— The  repeated  confirmation  of  the  General 
Privilege  affords  another  point  of  analogy  with  Magna  Charta,  which, 
together  witli  the  Charter  of  the  Forest,  received,  according  to  Lord 
Coke,  the  sanction  of  Parliament  thirty-two  several  times.  Institutes, 
part  ii.  Proeme. 


/ 


Ml 


lli 
'lllll! 


|!'' 


76 


INTRODUCTION. 


of  the  majority/s  The  authority,  indeed,  of  this  magis- 
trate in  his  own  court  was  fully  equal  to  providing 
adequate  relief  in  all  these  cases. ■♦^  But  for  several 
reasons  this  parliamentary  tribunal  was  preferred.  The 
process  was  both  more  expeditious  and  less  expensive 
to  the  suitor.  Indeed,  "the  most  obscure  inhabitant 
of  the  most  obscure  village  in  the  kingdom,  although  a 
foreigner,"  might  demand  redress  of  this  body;  and, 
if  he  was  incapable  of  bearing  the  burden  himself,  the 
state  was  bound  to  maintain  his  suit,  and  provide  him 
with  counsel  at  its  own  charge.  But  the  most  important 
consequence  resulting  from  this  legislative  investigation 
was  the  remedial  laws  frequently  attendant  on  it.  "And 
our  ancestors,"  says  Blancas,  "deemed  it  great  wisdom 
patiently  to  endure  contumely  and  oppression  for  a 
season,  rather  than  seek  redress  before  an  inferior  tri- 
bunal, since,  by  postponing  their  suit  till  the  meeting 
of  cortes,  they  would  not  only  obtain  a  remedy  for 
their  own  grievance,  but  one  of  a  universal  and  perma- 
nent application."^' 
The  Aragonese  cortes  maintained  a  steady  control 

45  It  was  more  frequently  referred,  both  for  the  sake  of  expedition 
and  of  obtaining  a  more  full  investigation,  to  commissioners  nominated 
conjointly  by  the  cortes  and  the  party  demanding  redress.  The  nature 
of  the  greuges,  or  grievances,  which  might  be  brought  before  the  legis- 
lature, and  the  mode  of  proceeding  in  relation  to  them,  are  circum- 
stantially detailed  by  the  parliamentary  historians  of  Aragon.  See 
Berart,  Discurso  sobre  la  Celebracion  de  Cortes,  cap.  7. — Capmany, 
Practica  y  Estilo,  pp.  37-44. — Blancas,  Modo  de  proceder,  cap,  14. — 
Martel,  Forma  de  celebrar  Cortes,  cap.  $4-59. 

46  Blancas,  Modo  de  proceder,  cap.  14. — Yet  Peter  IV.,  in  his  dis- 
pute with  the  Justice  Fernandez  de  Castro,  denied  this.  Zurita,  Anales, 
torn.  ii.  fol.  170. 

47  Blancixs,  Modo  de  proceder,  ubi  supra. 


A  R  AGON. 


77 


over  the  operations  of  government,  especially  after  the 
dissolution  of  the  Union;  and  the  weight  of  the  com- 
mons was  more  decisive  in  it  than  in  other  similar 
assemblies  of  that  period.  Its  singular  distribution 
into  four  estates  was  favorable  to  this.  The  knights 
and  hidalgos,  an  intermediate  order  between  -the  great 
nobility  and  the  people,  when  detached  from  the  former, 
naturally  lent  additional  support  to  the  latter,  with 
whom,  indeed,  they  had  considerable  affinity.  The 
representatives  of  certain  cities,  as  well  as  a  certain 
class  of  citizens,  were  entitled  to  a  seat  in  this  body  ;*^ 
so  that  it  approached  both  in  spirit  and  substance  to 
something  like  a  popular  representation.  Indeed,  this 
arm  of  the  cortes  was  so  uniformly  vigilant  in  resisting 
any  encroachment  on  the  part  of  the  crown,  that  it  has 
been  said  to  represent,  more  than  any  other,  the  liber- 
ties of  the  nation.^  In  some  other  particulars  the 
Aragonese  commons  possessed  an  advantage  over  those 
of  Castile,  i.  By  postponing  their  money  grants  to 
the  conclusion  of  the  session,  and  regulating  them  in 
some  degree  by  the  previous  dispositions  of  the  crown, 
they  availed  themselves  of  an  important  lever  relin- 
quished by  the  Castilian  cortes.^"    2.  The  kingdom  of 

48  As  for  example  the  ciudadanos  honrados  of  Saragossa.  (Capmany, 
Practica  y  Estilo,  p.  14.)  A  ciudadano  honrado  in  Catalonia,  and  I 
presume  the  same  in  Aragon,  was  a  landowner,  who  lived  on  his  rents 
without  being  engaged  in  commerce  or  trade  of  any  kind,  answering 
to  the  French  proprietalre.  See  Capmany,  Mem.  de  Barcelona,  torn, 
ii.  Apend.  no.  30. 

49  Blancas,  Modo  de  proceder,  fol.  102. 

so  Not,  however,  it  must  be  allowed,  without  a  manly  struggle  in 
its  defence,  and  which,  in  the  early  part  of  Charles  V.'s  reign,  in  1525, 
wrenched  a  promise  from  the  crown  to  answer  all  petitions  definitely 
before  the  rising  of  cortes.    The  law  still  remains  on  the  statute-book 


.\f-<\ 


7« 


INTRODUCTION. 


'\ 


Aragon  proper  was  circumscribed  within  too  narrow 
limits  to  allow  of  such  local  jealousies  and  estrange- 
ments, growing  out  of  an  apparent  diversity  of  interests, 
as  existed  in  the  neighboring  monarchy.     Their  repre- 
sentatives, therefore,  were  enabled  to  move  with  a  more 
hearty  concert,  and  on  a  more  consistent  line  of  policy. 
3.  Lastly,  the  acknowledged  right  to  a  seat  in  cortes 
possessed  by  every  city  which  had  once  been  repre- 
sented there,  and  this  equally  whether  summoned  or 
not,  if  we  may  credit  Capmany,^*  must  have  gone  far  to 
preserve  the  popular  branch  from  the  melancholy  state 
of  dilapidation  to  which  it  was  reduced  in  Castile  by 
the  arts  of  despotic  princes.     Indeed,  the  kings  of 
Aragon,    notwithstanding    occasional   excesses,    seem 
never  to  have  attempted  any  systematic  invasion  of 
the  constitutional  rights  of  their  subjects.     They  well 
knew  that  the  spirit  of  liberty  was  too  high  among 
them  to  endure  it.     When  the  queen  of  Alfonso  the 
Fourth  urged  her  husband,  by  quoting  the  example 
of  her  brother  the  king  of  Castile,  to  punish  certain 
refractory  citizens  of  Valencia,  he  prudently  replied, 
**My  people  are  free,  and  not  so  submissive  as  the  Cas- 
tilians.     They  respect  me  as  their  prince,  and  I  hold 
them  for  good  vassals  and  comrades.  "s» 

No  part  of  the  constitution  of  Aragon  has  excited 
more  interest,  or  more  deservedly,  than  the  office  of 
the  Justiciay  or  Justice ;°  whose  extraordinary  functions 

(Recop.  de  las  Leyes,  lib.  6,  tiL  7,  ley  8),  a  sad  commentary  on  the 
faith  of  princes. 

51  Prdctica  y  Estilo,  p.  14. 

52  "Y  nos  tenemos  d  ellos  como  buenos  vassallos  y  compafieros." 
Zurita,  Anales,  lib.  7,  cap.  17. 

53  The  noim  "  justicia"  was  made  masculine  for  the  accommodation 


A  RAG  ON. 


79 


were  far  from  being  limited  to  judicial  matters,  although 
in  these  his  authority  was  supreme.  The  origin  of  this 
institution  is  affirmed  to  have  been  coeval  with  that 
of  the  constitution  or  frame  of  government  itself. s*  If 
it  were  so,  his  authority  may  be  said,  in  the  language  of 
Blancas,  "to  have  slept  in  the  scabbard"  until  the  dis- 
solution of  the  Union ;  when  the  control  of  a  tumultu- 
ous aristocracy  was  exchanged  for  the  mild  and  uniform 
operation  of  the  law,  administered  by  this,  its  supreme 
interpreter. 

His  most  important  duties  may  be  briefly  enumer- 
ated. He  was  authorized  to  pronounce  on  the  validity 
of  all  royal  letters  and  ordinances.  He  possessed,  as 
has  been  said,  concurrent  jurisdiction  with  the  cortes 
over  all  suits  against  the  crown  and  its  officers.  Infe- 
rior judges  were  bound  to  consult  him  in  all  doubtful 
cases,  and  to  abide  by  his  opinion,  as  of  "equal  author- 
ity," in  the  words  of  an  ancient  jurist,  "with  the 
law  itself."*  An  appeal  lay  to  his  tribunal  from  those 
of  the  territorial  and  royal  judges.^*  He  could  even 
evoke  a  cause,  while  pending  before  them,  into  his  own 
court,  and  secure  the  defendant  from  molestation  on 
his  giving  surety  for  his  appearance.  By  another  pro- 
cess, he  might  remove  a  person  under  arrest  from  the 
place  in' which  he  had  been  confined  by  order  of  an 

of  this  magistrate,  who  was  styled  "el  justicia."  Antonio  Perez,  Re- 
laclones,  fol.  91. 

54  Blancas,  Commentarii,  p.  26. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  i.  fol.  9. 

ss  Molinus,  apud  Blancas,  Commentarii,  pp.  343,  344. — Fueros  y 
Observancias,  torn.  i.  fol.  21,  25. 

s6  Blancas,  Commentarii,  p.  536. — The  principal  of  these  jurisdic- 
tions was  the  royal  audience,  in  which  the  king  himself  presided  in 
person.     Ibid.,  p.  355. 


;1      i 


1:1  \ 


8b 


INTRODUCTION, 


I     v\ 


i  ! 


Ill 


inferior  court,  to  the  public  prison  appropriated  to  this 
purpose,  there  to  abide  his  own  examination  of  the 
legality  of  his  detention.  These  two  provisions,  by 
which  the  precipitate  and  perhaps  intemperate  proceed- 
ings of  subordinate  judicatures  were  subjected  to  the 
revision  of  a  dignified  and  dispassionate  tribunal,  might 
seem  to  afford  sufficient  security  for  personal  liberty 
and  property.  5' 

In  addition  to  these  official  functions,  the  Justice  of 
Aragon  was  constituted  a  permanent  counsellor  of  the 
sovereign,  and,  as  such,  was  required  to  accompany  him 
wherever  he  might  reside.  He  was  to  advise  the  king 
on  all  constitutional  questions  of  a  doubtful  complex- 
ion J  and  finally,  on  a  new  accession  to  the  throne,  it 
was  his  province  to  administer  the  coronation  oath; 
this  he  performed  with  his  head  covered,  and  sitting, 
while  the  monarch,  kneeling  before  him  bare-headed, 
solemnly  promised  to  maintain  the  liberties  of  the 
kingdom, — a  ceremony  eminently  symbolical  of  that 

57  Fueros  y  Observancias,  torn.  i.  fol.  23,  60  et  seq.,  155,  lib.  3,  tit. 
De  Manifestationibus  Personarum. — Also  fol.  137  et  seq.,  tit.  7,  De 
Firmis  Juris. — Blancas,  Commentarii,  pp.  350,  351, — Zurita,  Anales, 
lib.  10,  cap.  37. — The  first  of  these  processes  was  styledy?r;wa  de  dere- 
cho,  the  last,  manifestacion.  The  Spanish  writers  are  warm  in  their 
encomiums  of  these  two  provisions.  "  Quibus  duobus  praesidiis,"  says 
Blancas,  "  ita  nostrae  reipublicae  status  continetur,  ut  nulla  pars  com- 
munium  fortunarum  tutela  vacua  relinquatur."  Both  this  author  and 
Zurita  have  amplified  the  details  respecting  them,  which  the  reader 
may  find  extracted  and  in  part  translated  by  Mr.  Hallam,  Middle 
Ages,  vol.  ii.  pp.  75-77,  notes.  When  complex  litigation  became  more 
frequent,  the  Justice  was  allowed  one,  afterwards  two,  and  at  a  still 
later  period,  in  1528,  five  lieutenants,  as  they  were  called,  who  aided 
him  in  the  discharge  of  his  onerous  duties.  Martel,  Forma  de  cele- 
brar  Cortes,  Notas  de  Uztarroz,  pp.  92-96. — Blancas,  Commentarii,  pp. 
361-366. 


ARAGON. 


8i 


superiority  of  law  over  prerogative  which  was  so  con- 
stantly asserted  in  Aragon.** 

It  was  the  avowed  purpose  of  the  institution  of  the 
Justicia  to  interpose  such  an  authority  between  the 
crown  and  the  people  as  might  suffice  for  the  entire 
protection  of  the  latter.  This  is  the  express  import  of 
one  of  the  laws  of  Soprarbe,  which,  whatever  be  thought 
of  their  authenticity,  are  undeniably  of  very  high  an- 
tiquity.59  This  part  of  his  duties  is  particularly  insisted 
on  by  the  most  eminent  juridical  writers  of  the  nation. 
Whatever  estimate,  therefore,  may  be  formed  of  the 
real  extent  of  his  powers,  as  compared  with  those  of 
similar  functionaries  in  other  states  of  Europe,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  this  ostensible  object  of  their 
creation,  thus  openly  asserted,  must  have  had  a  great 
tendency  to  enforce  their  practical  operation.  Accord- 
ingly we  find-  repeated  examples,  in  the  history  of  Ara- 
gon,  of  successful  interposition  on  the  part  of  the  Jus- 
tice for  the  protection  of  individuals  persecuted  by  the 

s8  Blancas,  Commentarii,  pp.  343,  346,  347. — Idem,  Coronaciones, 
pp.  200,  202. — Antonio  Perez,  Relaciones,  fol.  92. — Sempere  cites  the 
opinion  of  an  ancient  canonist,  Canellas,  bishop  of  Huesca,  as  conclu- 
sive against  the  existence  of  the  vast  powers  imputed  by  later  commen- 
tators to  the  Justicia.  (Histoire  des  Cort&s,  chap.  19.)  The  vague, 
rhapsodical  tone  of  the  extract  shows  it  to  be  altogether  undeserving 
of  the  emphasis  laid  on  it ;  not  to  add  that  it  was  written  more  than  a 
century  before  the  period  when  the  Justicia  possessed  the  influence  or 
the  legal  authority  claimed  for  him  by  Aragonese  writers, — ^by  Blan- 
cas in  particular,  from  whom  Sempere  borrowed  the  passage  at  second 
hand. 

59  The  law  alluded  to  runs  thus :  "  Ne  quid  autem  damni  detri^  .av- 
tive  leges  aut  libertates  nostrae  patiantur,  judex  quidam  medius  adesto, 
ad  quern  a  Rege  provocare,  si  aliquem  laeserit,  injuriasque  arcere  si 
quas  forsan  Reipub.  intulerit,  jus  fasque  esto."  Blancas,  Commentarii, 
p.  26. 

Vol.  I.— 6  d* 


•  I'i 


it 


8a 


INTRODUCTION. 


crown,  and  in  defiance  of  every  attempt  at  intimida- 
tion.* The  kings  of  Aragon,  chafed  by  this  opposi- 
tion, procured  the  resignation  or  deposition,  on  more 
than  one  occasion,  of  the  obnoxious  magistrate.*''  But, 
as  such  an  exercise  of  prerogative  must  have  been  alto- 
gether subversive  of  an  independent  discharge  of  the 
duties  of  this  office,  it  was  provided  by  a  statute  of 
Alfonso  the  Fifth,  in  1442,  that  the  Justice  should  con- 
tinue in  office  during  life,  removable  only,  on  sufficient 
cause,  by  the  king  and  the  cortes  united. *" 

Several  provisions  were  enacted  in  order  to  secure 
the  nation  more  effectually  against  the  abuse  of  the 
high  trust  reposed  in  this  officer.  He  was  to  be  taken 
from  the  equestrian  order,  which,  as  intermediate  be- 
tween the  high  nobility  and  the  people,  was  less  likely 
to  be  influenced  by  undue  partiality  to  either.  He 
could  not  be  selected  from  the  ricos  hombres,  since 
this  class  was  exempted  from  corporal  punishment, 
while  the  Justice  was  made  responsible  to  the  cortes 
for  the  faithful  discharge  of  his  duties,  under  penalty 

^  Such  instances  may  be  found  in  Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  ii.  fol.  385, 
414. — Blancas,  Commentarii,  pp.  199,  202-206,  214,  225. — When 
Ximenes  Cerdan,  the  independent  Justice  of  John  I.,  removed  certain 
citizens  from  the  prison  in  which  they  had  been  unlawfully  confined  by 
the  king,  in  defiance  equally  of  that  officer's  importunities  and  menaces, 
the  inhabitants  of  Saragossa,  says  Abarca,  came  out  in  a  body  to  receive 
him  on  his  return  to  the  city,  and  greeted  him  as  the  defender  of  their 
ancient  and  natural  liberties.  (Reyes  de  Aragon,  torn.  i.  fol.  155.)  So 
openly  did  the  Aragonese  support  their  magistrate  in  the  boldest  exer- 
cise of  his  authority. 

*'  This  occurred  once  under  Peter  III.,  and  twice  under  Alfonso  V. 
(Zurita,  Anales,  tom.  iii.  fol.  255. — Blancas,  Commentarii,  pp.  174,  489, 
499.)    The  Justice  was  appointed  by  the  king. 

6»  Fueros  y  Observancias,  tom.  i.  fol.  22. 


A  RAG  ON. 


83 


of  death.*'  As  this  supervision  of  the  whole  legislature 
was  found  unwieldy  in  practice,  it  was  superseded,  after 
various  modifications,  by  a  commission  of  members 
elected  from  each  one  of  the  four  estates,  empowered 
to  sit  every  year  in  Saragossa,  with  authority  to  investi- 
gate the  charges  preferred  against  the  Justice,  and  to 
pronounce  sentence  upon  him.** 

The  Aragonese  writers  are  prodigal  of  their  enco- 
miums on  the  pre-eminence  and  dignity  of  this  function- 
ary, whose  office  might  seem,  indeed,  but  a  doubtful 
expedient  for  balancing  the  authority  of  the  sovereign, 
depending  for  its  success  less  on  any  legal  powers  con- 
fided to  it  than  on  the  efficient  and  steady  support  of 
public  opinion.  Fortunately  the  Justice  of  Aragon 
received  such  support,  and  was  thus  enabled  to  carry 
the  original  design  of  the  institution  into  effect,  to 
check  the  usurpations  of  the  crown,  as  well  as  to  con- 
trol the  license  of  the  nobility  and  the  people.  A 
series  of  learned  and  independent  magistrates,  by  the 
weight  of  their  own  character,  gave  additional  dignity 


*3  Fueros  y  Observancias,  torn,  i,  fol.  25. 

64  Ibid.,  torn.  i.  lib.  3,  tit.  Forum  Inquisitionis  Officii  Just.  Arag.,  and 
torn.  ii.  fol.  37-41. — Blancas,  Commentarii,  pp.  391-399. — The  exam- 
ination was  conducted  in  the  first  instance  before  a  court  of  four  inquis- 
itors, as  they  were  termed,  who,  after  a  patient  hearing  of  both  sides, 
reported  the  result  of  their  examination  to  a  council  of  seventeen, 
chosen  like  them  from  the  cortes,  from  whose  decision  there  was  no 
appeal.  No  iawyer  was  admitted  into  this  council,  lest  the  law  might 
be  distorted  by  verbal  quibbles,  says  Blancas.  The  council,  however, 
was  allowed  the  advice  of  two  of  the  profession.  They  voted  by  ballot, 
and  the  majority  decided.  Such,  after  various  modifications,  were  the 
regulations  ultimately  adopted  in  1461,  or  rather  1467.  Robertson  ap- 
pears to  have  confounded  the  council  of  seventeen  with  the  court  of 
inquisition.    See  his  History  of  Charles  V.,  vol.  i.  note  31. 


'I 


I 


vm 


84 


INTRODUCTION. 


to  the  office.  The  people,  familiarized  with  the  be- 
nignant operation  of  the  law,  referred  to  peaceful 
arbitration  those  great  political  questions  which  in 
other  countries,  at  this  period,  must  have  been  set- 
tled by  a  sanguinary  revolution.**  While,  in  the  rest 
of  Europe,  the  law  seemed  only  the  web  to  ensnare  the 
weak,  the  Aragonese  historians  could  exult  in  the  re- 
flection that  the  fearless  administration  of  justice  in 
their  land  "protected  the  weak  equally  with  the  strong, 
the  foreigner  with  the  native."  Well  might  their 
legislature  assert  that  the  value  of  their  liberties  more 
than  counterbalanced  "  the  poverty  of  the  nation  and 
the  sterility  of  their  soil."" 

The  governments  of  Valencia  and  Catalonia,  which, 
as  has  been  already  remarked,  were  administered  inde- 
pendently of  each  other  after  their  consolidation  into 

*S  Probably  no  nation  of  the  period  would  have  display  t ;'.  a  tem- 
perance similar  to  that  exhibited  by  the  Aragonese  at  the  beginning  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  in  1412;  when  the  people,  having  been  split  into 
factions  by  a  contested  succession,  agreed  to  refer  the  dispute  to  a 
committee  of  judges,  elected  equally  from  the  three  great  provinces  of 
the  kingdom  ;  who,  after  an  examination  conducted  with  all  the  forms 
of  law,  and  on  the  same  equitable  principles  as  would  have  guided  the 
determination  of  a  private  suit,  delivered  an  opinion,  which  was  re- 
ceived as  obligatory  on  the  whole  nation. 

^  See  Zurita,  Anales,  lib.  8,  cap.  29, — and  the  admirable  sentiments 
cited  by  Blancas  from  the  parliamentary  acts  in  1451.  (Commentarii, 
p.  350.)  From  this  independent  position  must  be  excepted,  indeed,  the 
lower  classes  of  the  peasantry,  who  seem  to  have  been  in  a  more  abject 
state  in  Aragon  than  in  most  other  feudal  countries.  "  Era  tan  abso- 
luto  su  dominio  [of  their  lords]  que  podian  matar  con  hambre, 
sed,  y  frio  a  sus  vasallos  de  servidumbre."  (Asso  y  Manuel,  Institu- 
ciones,  p.  40, — also  Blancas,  Commentarii,  p.  309.)  These  serfs  ex- 
torted, in  an  insurrection,  the  recognition  of  certain  rights  from  their 
masters,  on  condition  of  paying  a  specific  tax ;  whence  the  name  villa- 
ttos  de  parada. 


AH  AG  ON. 


85 


one  monarchy,  bore  a  very  near  resemblance  to  that  of 
Aragon.*'  No  institution,  however,  corresponding  in 
its  functions  with  that  of  the  Justicia,  seems  to  have  ob- 
tained in  either."  Valencia,  which  had  derived  a  large 
portion  of  its  primitive  population,  after  the  conquest, 
from  Aragon,  preserved  the  most  intimate  relations 
with  the  parent  kingdom,  and  was  constantly  at  its  side 
during  the  tempestuous  season  of  the  Union.  The 
Catalans  were  peculiarly  jealous  of  their  exclusive  priv- 
ileges, and  their  civil  institutions  wore  a  more  demo- 
cratical  aspect  than  those  of  any  other  of  the  confed- 
erated states;  circumstances  which  led  to  important 
results  that  fall  within  the  compass  of  our  narrative.*^ 

*7  Although  the  legislatures  of  the  different  states  of  the  crown  of 
Aragon  were  never  united  in  one  body  when  convened  in  the  same 
town,  yet  they  were  so  averse  to  all  appearance  of  incorporation,  that 
the  monarch  frequently  appointed  for  the  places  of  meeting  three  dis- 
tinct towns,  within  their  respective  territories,  and  contiguous,  in  order 
that  he  might  pass  the  more  expeditiously  from  one  to  the  other.  See 
Blancas,  Modo  de  proceder,  cap.  4. 

^  It  is  indeed  true  that  Peter  III.,  at  the  request  of  the  Valencians, 
appointed  an  Aragonese  knight  Justice  of  that  kingdom,  in  1283. 
(Zurita,  Anales,  tom.  i.  fol.  281.)  But  we  find  no  further  mention  of 
this  officer,  or  of  the  office.  Nor  have  I  met  with  any  notice  of  it  in 
the  details  of  the  Valencian  constitution,  compiled  by  Capmany  from 
various  writers.  (Prdctica  y  Elstilo,  pp.  161-208.)  An  anecdote  of 
Ximenes  Cerdan,  recorded  by  Blancas  (Commentarii,  p.  214),  may 
lead  one  to  infer  that  the  places  i»  Valencia  which  received  the  laws 
of  Aragon  acknowledged  the  jurisdiction  of  its  Justicia. 

*9  Capmany,  Prdctica  y  Estilo,  pp.  62-214. — Capmany  has  collected 
copious  materials,  from  a  variety  of  authors,  for  the  parliamentary 
history  of  Catalonia  and  Valencia,  forming  a  striking  contrast  to 
the  scantiness  of  information  he  was  able  to  glean  respecting  Castile. 
The  indifference  of  the  Spanish  writers,  till  very  recently,  to  the  consti- 
tutional antiquities  of  the  latter  kingdom,  so  much  more  important 
than  the  other  states  of  the  Peninsula,  is  altogether  inexplicable. 


86 


INTRODUCTION. 


■at 


The  city  of  Barcelona,  which  originally  gave  its 
name  to  the  county  of  which  it  was  the  capital,  was 
distinguished  from  a  very  early  period  by  ample  muni- 
cipal privileges.'"  After  the  union  with  Aragon  in 
the  twelfth  century,  the  monarchs  of  the  latter  king- 
dom extended  towards  it  the  same  liberal  legislation ; 
so  that,  by  the  thirteenth,  Barcelona  had  reached  a 
degree  of  commercial  prosperity  rivalling  that  of  any 
of  the  Italian  republics.  She  divided  with  them  the 
lucrative  commerce  with  Alexandria;  and  her  port, 
thronged  with  foreigners  from  every  nation,  became 
a  principal  emporium  in  the  Mediterranean  for  the 
spices,  drugs,  perfumes,  and  other  rich  commodities 
of  the  East,  whence  they  were  diffused  over  the  interior 
of  Spain  and  the  European  continent.^'  Her  consuls, 
and  her  commercial  factories,  were  established  in  every 
considerable  port  in  the  Mediterranean  and  in  the  north 
of  Europe.'"    The  natural  products  of  her  soil,  and  her 

7°  Corbera,  CataluAa  illustrada  (Ndpoles,  1678),  lib.  i,  c,  17. — Pe- 
trus  de  Marca  cites  a  charter  of  Raymond  Berenger,  count  of  Barce- 
lona, to  the  city,  as  ancient  as  1025,  confirming  its  former  privileges. 
See  Marca  Hispanica,  sive  Limes  Hispanicus  (Parisiis,  1688),  Apend. 
no.  198. 

71  Navarrete,  Discurso  hist6rico,  apud  Mem.  de  la  Acad,  de  Hist., 
tom.  V.  pp.  81,  82,  112,  113. — Capmany,  Mem.  de  Barcelona,  tom.  i. 
part.  I,  pp.  4,  8,  10,  II. 

7a  Mem.  de  Barcelona,  part,  i,  cSp.  2,  3. — Capmany  has  given  a  reg- 
ister of  the  consuls,  and  of  the  numerous  stations  at  which  they  were 
established  throughout  Africa  and  Europe,  in  the  fourteenth  and  fif- 
teenth centuries  (tom.  ii.  Apend.  no.  23).  These  officers,  during  the 
Middle  Ages,  discharged  much  more  important  duties  than  at  the 
present  day,  if  we  except  those  few  residing  with  the  Barbary  powers. 
They  settled  the  disputes  arising  between  their  countrymen  in  the  ports 
where  they  were  established ;  they  protected  the  trade  of  their  own 
nation  with  these  ports ;  and  were  employed  in  adjusting  commercial 


AKAGON. 


«7 


various  domestic  fabrics,  supplied  her  with  abundant 
articles  of  export.  Fine  wool  was  imported  by  her  in 
considerable  quantities  from  England  in  the  fourteenth 
and  fifteenth  centuries,  and  returned  there  manufac- 
tured into  cloth ;  an  exchange  of  commodities  the  re- 
verse of  that  existing  between  the  two  nations  at  the 
present  day."  Barcelona  claims  the  merit  of  having 
established  the  first  bank  of  exchange  and  deposit  in 
Europe,  in  1401 ;  it  was  devoted  to  the  accommoda- 
tion of  foreigners  as  well  as  of  her  own  citizens.  She 
claims  the  glory,  too,  of  having  compiled  the  most 
ancient  written  code,  among  the  moderns,  of  maritime 
law  now  extant,  digested  from  the  usages  of  commercial 
nations,  and  which  formed  the  basis  of  the  mercantile 
jurisprudence  of  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages.'* 

The  wealth  which  flowed  in  upon  Barcelona,  as  the 
result  of  her  activity  and  enterprise,  was  evinced  by 
her  numerous  public  works,  her  docks,  arsenal,  ware- 
houses, exchange,  hospitals,  and  other  constructions  of 

relations,  treaties,  etc.  In  short,  they  filled  in  some  sort  the  post  of 
a  modem  ambassador,  or  resident  minister,  at  a  period  when  this  func- 
tionary was  only  emplc^ed  on  extraordinary  occasions. 

73  Macpherson,  Annals  of  Commerce  (London,  1825),  vol.  i.  p.  655. 
— The  woollen  manufacture  constituted  the  principal  staple  of  Barce- 
lona (Capmany,  Mem.  de  Barcelona,  torn.  i.  p.  241).  The  English 
sovereigns  encouraged  the  Catalan  traders  by  considerable  immunities 
to  frequent  their  ports  during  the  fourteenth  century.  Macpherson, 
ubi  supra,  pp.  502,  551,  588. 

74  Heeren,  Essai  sur  I'Influence  des  Croisades,  traduit  par  Villers 
(Paris,  1808),  p.  376. — Capmany,  Mem.  de  Barcelona,  tom.  i.  p.  213, 
also  pp.  170-180. — Capmany  fixes  the  date  of  the  publication  of  the 
Consulado  del  Mar  at  the  middle  of  the  tb-rteenth  century,  under 
James  I,  He  discusses  and  refutes  the  cijins  of  the  Pisans  to  pre- 
cedence in  this  codification.  See  his  Preliminary  Discourse  to  the 
Costumbres  maritimas  de  Barcelona. 


88 


INTR  OD  UCTION. 


general  utility.  Strangers,  who  visited  Spain  in  the 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  expatiate  on  the 
magnificence  of  this  city,  its  commodious  private  edi- 
fices, the  cleanliness  of  its  streets  and  public  squares 
(a  virtue  by  no  means  usual  in  that  day),  and  on  the 
amenity  of  its  gardens  and  cultivated  environs. ^s 

But  the  peculiar  glory  of  Barcelona  was  the  freedom 
of  her  municipal  institutions.  Her  government  con- 
sisted of  a  senate  or  council  of  one  hundred,  and  a 
body  of  regidores  or  counsellors,  as  they  were  styled, 
varying  at  times  from  four  to  six  in  number;  the  for- 
mer intrusted  with  the  legislative,  the  latter  with  the 
executive  functions  of  administration.  A  large  propor- 
tion of  these  bodies  were  selected  from  the  merchants, 
tradesmen,  and  mechanics  of  the  city.  They  were  in- 
vested not  merely  with  municipal  authority,  but  with 
many  of  the  rights  of  sovereignty.  They  entered  into 
commercial  treaties  with  foreign  powers;  superintended 
the  defence  of  the  city  in  time  of  war ;  provided  for  the 
security  of  trade ;  granted  letters  of  reprisal  against  any 
nation  who  might  violate  it ;  and  raised  and  appropri- 
ated the  public  moneys  for  the  construction  of  useful 
works,  or  the  encouragement  of  such  commercial  ad- 
ventures as  were  too  hazardous  or  expensive  for  indi- 
vidual enterprise."* 

75  Navagiero,  Viaggio,  fol.  3. — L.  Marineo  styles  it  "  the  most  beau- 
tiful city  he  had  ever  seen,  or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  in  the  whole 
world."  (Cosas  memorables,  fol.  18.)  Alfonso  V.,  in  one  of  his 
ordinances,  in  1438,  calls  it  "urbs  venerabilis  in  egregiis  templis,  tuta 
ut  in  oplimis,  pulchra  in  caeteris  cedificiis,"  etc.  Capmany,  Mem.  de 
Barcelona,  tom.  ii.  Apend.  no.  13. 

76  Capmany,  Mem.  de  Barcelona,  Apend.  no.  24. — The  senate  or 
great  council,  though  styled  the  "one  hundred,"  seems  to  have  fluctu- 
ated at  different  times  between  that  number  and  double  its  amount. 


A  RAG  ON. 


89 


The  counsellors,  who  presided  over  the  municipality, 
were  complimented  with  certain  honorary  privileges, 
not  even  accorded  to  the  nobility.  They  were  ad- 
dressed by  the  title  of  magnificos ;  were  seated,  with 
their  heads  covered,  in  the  presence  of  royalty  ;  were 
preceded  by  mace-bearers,  or  lictors,  in  their  progress 
through  the  country ;  and  deputies  from  their  body  to 
the  court  were  admitted  on  the  footing  and  received 
the  honors  of  foreign  ambassadors."  These,  it  will  be 
recollected,  were  plebeians, — merchants  and  mechanics. 
Trade  never  was  esteemed  a  degradation  in  Catalonia, 
as  it  came  to  be  in  Castile. ^^  The  professors  of  the 
different  arts,  as  they  were  called,  organized  into  guilds 
or  companies,  constituted  so  many  independent  asso- 
ciations, whose  members  were  eligible  to  the  highest 
municipal  offices.  And  such  was  the  importance  at- 
tached to  these  offices  that  the  nobility,  in  many  in- 
stances, resigning  the  privileges  of  their  rank,  —  a 
necessary  preliminary,  —  were  desirous  of  being  en- 
rolled among  the  candidates  for  them.^'  One  cannot 
but  observe  in  the  peculiar  organization  of  this  little 
commonwealth,  and  in  the  equality  assumed  by  every 
class  of  its  citizens,  a  close  analogy  to  the  constitutions 

77  Corbera,  Cataluna  illustrada,  p.  84. — Capmany,  Mem.  de  Barce- 
lona, torn.  ii.  Apend.  no.  29. 

78  Capmany,  Mem.  de  Barcelona,  torn.  1.  part.  3,  p.  40, — tom.  iii.  part. 

2>  pp.  317.  318. 

79  Ibid.,  tom.  1.  part.  2,  p.  187, — tom.  ii.  Apend.  30. — Capmany  says 
principal  nobleza  ;  yet  it  may  be  presumed  that  much  the  larger  pro- 
portion of  these  noble  candidates  for  office  was  drawn  from  the  inferior 
class  of  the  privileged  orders,  the  knights  and  hidalgos.  The  great 
barons  of  Catalonia,  fortified  with  extensive  immunities  and  wealth, 
lived  on  their  estates  in  the  country,  probably  little  relishing  the  level- 
ling spirit  of  the  burghers  of  Barcelona. 


90 


INTRODUCTION. 


11 


■'     '''il 


of  the  Italian  republics,  which  the  Catalans,  having 
become  familiar  with  in  their  intimate  commercial 
intercourse  with  Italy,  may  have  adopted  as  the  model 
of  their  own. 

Under  the  influence  of  these  democratic  institutions, 
the  burghers  of  Barcelona,  and  indeed  of  Catalonia  in 
general,  which  enjoyed  more  or  less  of  a  similar  free- 
dom, assumed  a  haughty  independence  of  character  be- 
yond what  existed  among  the  same  class  in  other  parts 
of  Spain  \  and  this,  combined  with  the  martial  daring 
fostered  by  a  life  of  maritime  adventure  and  warfare, 
made  them  impatient  not  merely  of  oppression,  but  of 
contradiction,  on  the  part  of  their  sovereigns,  who  have 
experienced  more  frequent  and  more  sturdy  resistance 
from  this  quarter  of  their  dominions  than  from  every 
other. **  Navagiero,  the  Venetian  ambassador  to  Spain, 
early  in  the  sixteenth  century,  although  a  republican 
himself,  was  so  struck  with  what  he  deemed  the  insub- 
ordination of  the  Barcelonians,  that  he  asserts,  **The 
inhabitants  have  so  many  privileges  that  the  king 
scarcely  retains  any  authority  over  them :  their  lib- 
erty," he  adds,  **  should  rather  go  by  the  name  of 
license."*'    One  example,  among  many,  may  be  given 

*>  Barcelona  revolted  and  was  twice  besieged  by  the  royal  arms 
under  John  II.,  once  under  Philip  IV.,  twice  under  Charles  II.,  and 
twice  under  Philip  V.  This  last  siege,  1713-14,  in  which  it  held  out 
against  the  combined  forces  of  France  and  Spain  under  Marshal  Ber- 
wick, is  one  of  the  most  memorable  events  in  the  eighteenth  century. 
An  interesting  account  of  the  siege  may  be  found  in  Coxe's  Memoirs 
of  the  Kings  of  Spain  of  the  House  of  Bourbon  (London,  1815),  vol. 
ii.  chap.  21. — The  late  monarch,  Ferdinand  VII.,  also  had  occasion  to 
feel  that  the  independent  spirit  of  the  Catalans  did  not  become  extinct 
with  their  ancient  constitution. 

8»  Viaggio,  fol.  3. 


I!  V 


ARAGON. 


9» 


of  the  tenacity  with  which  they  adhered  to  their  most 
inconsiderable  immunities. 

Ferdinand  the  First,  in  141 6,  being  desirous,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  exhausted  state  of  the  finances  on  his 
coming  to  the  throne,  to  evade  the  payment  of  a  cer- 
tain tax  or  subsidy  customarily  paid  by  the  kings  of 
Aragon  to  the  city  of  Barcelona,  sent  for  the  president 
of  the  council,  John  Fiveller,  to  require  the  consent  of 
that  body  to  this  measure.  The  magistrate,  having 
previously  advised  with  his  colleagues,  determined  to 
encounter  any  hazard,  says  Zurita,  rather  than  com- 
promise the  rights  of  the  city.  He  reminded  the  king 
of  his  coronation  oath;  expressed  his  regret  that  he  was 
willing  so  soon  to  deviate  from  the  good  usages  of  his 
predecessors,  and  plainly  told  him  that  he  and  his  com- 
rades would  never  betray  the  liberties  intrusted  to  them. 
Ferdinand,  indignant  at  this  language,  ordered  the  pa- 
triot to  withdraw  into  another  apartment,  where  he 
remained  in  much  uncertainty  as  to  the  consequences  of 
his  temerity.  But  the  king  was  dissuaded  from  violent 
measures,  if  he  ever  contemplated  them,  by  the  repre- 
sentation of  his  courtiers,  who  warned  him  not  to  reckon 
too  much  on  the  patience  of  the  people,  who  bore  small 
affection  to  his  person,  from  the  little  familiarity  with 
which  he  had  treated  them  in  comparison  with  their 
preceding  monarchs,  and  who  were  already  in  arms 
to  protect  their  magistrate.  In  consequence  of  these 
suggestions,  Ferdinand  deemed  it  prudent  to  release  the 
counsellor,  and  withdrew  abruptly  from  the  city  on  the 
ensuingday,  disgusted  at  the  ill  success  of  his  enterprise.*" 

**  Abarca,  Reyes  de  Aragon,  torn.  ii.  fol.  183. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn, 
iii.  lib.  12,  cap.  59. — The  king  turned  his  back  on  the  magistrates,  who 


ill  SI  I 


;lP 


111 


9* 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  Aragonese  monarchs  well  understood  the  value  of 
their  Catalan  dominions,  which  sustained  a  proportion 
of  the  public  burdens  equal  in  amount  to  that  of  both 
the  other  states  of  the  kingdom.®^  Notwithstanding 
the  mortifications  which  they  occasionally  experienced 
from  this  quarter,  therefore,  they  uniformly  extended 
towards  it  the  most  liberal  protection.  A  register  of 
the  various  customs  paid  in  the  ports  of  Catalonia, 
compiled  in  141 3,  under  the  above-mentioned  Ferdi- 
nand, exhibits  a  discriminating  legislation,  extraor- 
dinary in  an  age  when  the  true  principles  of  financial 
policy  were  so  little  understood.^  Under  James  the 
First,  in  1227,  a  navigation  act,  limited  in  its  applica- 
tion, was  published,  and  another  under  Alfonso  the 
Fifth,  in  1454,  embracing  ail  the  dominions  of  Ara- 
gon ;  thus  preceding  by  some  centuries  the  celebrated 
ordinance  to  which  England  owes  so  much  of  her 
commercial  grandeur.* 

came  to  pay  their  respects  to  him  on  learning  his  intention  of  quitting 
the  city.  He  seems,  however,  to  have  had  the  magnanimity  to  forgive, 
perhaps  to  admire,  the  independent  conduct  of  Fiveller;  for  at  his 
death,  which  occurred  very  soon  after,  we  find  this  citizen  mentioned  as 
one  of  his  executors.  See  Capmany,  Mem.  de  Barcelona,  tom.  ii. 
Apend.  29. 

83  The  taxes  were  assessed  in  the  ratio  of  one-sixth  on  Valencia,  two- 
sixths  on  Aragon,  and  three-sixths  on  Catalonia.  See  Martel,  Forma 
de  celebrar  Cortes,  cap.  71. 

*»  See  the  items  specified  by  Capmany,  Mem.  de  Barcelona,  tom.  i. 
pp.  231,  232. 

85  Idem,  tom.  i.  pp.  221,  234. — Capmany  states  that  the  statute  of 
Alfonso  V.  prohibited  "  all  foreign  ships  from  taking  cargoes  in  the 
ports  of  his  dominions."  (See  also  Colec.  Dipl.,  tom.  ii.  no.  187.) 
The  object  of  this  law,  like  that  of  the  British  Navigation  Act,  was  the 
encouragement  of  the  national  marine.  It  deviated  far,  however,  from 
the  sagacious  policy  of  the  latter,  which  imposed  no  restriction  on  the 


ARAGON. 


93 


The  brisk  concussion  given  to  the  minds  of  the  Cat- 
alans in  the  busy  career  in  which  they  were  engaged 
seems  to  have  been  favorable  to  the  development  of 
poetical  talent,  in  the  same  manner  as  it  was  in  Italy. 
Catalonia  may  divide  with  Provence  the  glory  of  being 
the  region  where  the  voice  of  song  was  first  awakened 
in  modern  Europe.  Whatever  may  be  the  relative 
claims  of  the  two  countries  to  precedence  in  this  re- 
spect,^ it  is  certain  that  under  the  family  of  Barcelona 
the  Provencal  of  the  south  of  France  reached  its  high- 
est perfection  \  and,  when  the  tempest  of  persecution 
in  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century  fell  on  the 
lovely  valleys  of  that  unhappy  country,  its  minstrels 
found  a  hospitable  asylum  in  the  court  of  the  kings  of 
Aragon,  many  of  whom  not  only  protected,  but  culti- 
vated the  gay  science  with  considerable  success.^'  Their 
names  have  descended  to  us,  as  well  as  those  of  less 


exportation  of  domestic  produce  to  foreign  countries,  except,  indeed, 
its  own  colonies. 

^Andres,  Dell'  Origine,  de'  Progressi,  e  dello  Statoattuale  d'ogni 
Letteratura  (Venezia,  1783),  part.  i.  cap.  11. — Lampillas,  Saggio  sto- 
rico-apologetico  della  Letteratura  Spagnuola  (Genova,  1778),  part.  i. 
dis.  6,  sec.  7, — ^Andres  conjectures,  and  Lampillas  decides,  in  favor  of 
Catalonia.  Arcades  ambo;  and  the  latter  critic  the  worst  possible 
authority  on  all  questions  of  national  preference. 

87  Velazquez,  Origenes  de  la  Poesia  Castellana  (Malaga,  1797),  pp. 
20-22. — ^Andres,  Letteratura,  part.  i.  cap.  11. — Alfonso  II.,  Peter  II., 
Peter  III.,  James  I.,  Peter  IV.,  have  all  left  compositions  in  the  Li- 
mousin tongue  behind  them  ;  the  three  former  in  verse,  the  two  latter 
in  prose,  setting  forth  the  history  of  their  own  time.  For  a  particular 
account  of  their  respective  productions,  see  Latassa  (Escritores  Ara- 
goneses,  tom.  i.  pp.  175-179,  185-189,  22a,  224,  242-248, — tom.  ii.  p. 
28),  also  Lanuza  (Historias  eclesidsticas  y  seculares  de  Aragon  (Zara- 
goza,  1622),  tom.  i.  p.  553).  The  Chronicle  of  James  I.  is  particularly 
esteemed  for  its  fidelity. 


«  :] 


(i 


94 


INTRODUCTION. 


illustrious  troubadours,  whom  Petrarch  and  his  contem- 
poraries did  not  disdain  to  imitate;^  but  their  com- 
positions, for  the  most  part,  lie  still  b'lried  in  those 
cemeteries  of  the  intellect  so  numerous  in  Spain,  and 
call  loudly  for  the  diligence  of  some  Sainte-Palaye  or 
Raynouard  to  disinter  them.* 

The  languishing  condition  of  the  poetic  art,  at  the 
close  of  the  fourteenth  century,  induced  John  the  First, 
who  mingled  somewhat  of  the  ridiculous  even  with  his 
most  respectable  tastes,  to  depute  a  solemn  embassy  to 
the  king  of  France,  requesting  that  a  commission  might 
be  detached  from  the  Floral  Academy  of  Toulouse, 
into  Spain,  to  erect  there  a  similar  institution.  This 
was  accordingly  done,  and  the  Consistory  of  Barcelona 
was  organized  in  1390.  The  kings  of  Aragon  endowed 
it  with  funds,  and  with  a  library  valuable  for  that  day, 
presiding  over  its  meetings  in  person,  and  distributing 
the  poetical  premiums  with  their  own  hands.  During 
the  troubles  consequent  on  the  death  of  Martin,  this 
establishment  fell  into  decay,  until  it  was  again  revived, 

88  Whether  Jordi  stole  from  Petrarch,  or  Petrarch  from  Jordi,  has 
been  matter  of  hot  debate  between  the  Spanish  and  French  litterateurs. 
Sanchez,  after  a  careful  examination  of  the  evidence,  candidly  decides 
against  his  countryman.  (Poesias  Castellanas,  tom.  i.  pp.  81-84.)  A 
competent  critic  in  the  Retrospective  Review  (No.  7,  art.  2),  who  en- 
joyed the  advantage  over  Sanchez  of  perusing  a  MS.  copy  of  Jordi's 
original  poem,  makes  out  a  very  plausible  argument  in  favor  of  the 
originality  of  the  Valencian  poet.  After  all,  as  the  amount  stolen,  or, 
to  speak  more  reverently,  borrowed,  does  not  exceed  half  a  dozen  lines, 
it  is  not  of  vital  importance  to  the  reputation  of  either  poet. 

89  The  Abate  Andres  lamented,  fifty  years  ago,  that  the  worms  and 
moths  should  be  allowed  to  revel  among  the  precious  relics  of  ancient 
Castilian  literature.  (Letteratura,  tom.  ii.  p.  306.)  Have  their  revels 
been  disturbed  vet  ? 


A  RAG  ON. 


95 


on  the  accession  of  Ferdinand  the  First,  by  the  cele- 
brated Henry,  marquis  of  Villena,  who  transplanted  it 
to  Tortosa.9° 

The  marquis,  in  nis  treatise  on  the  gaya  scienda^  de- 
tails with  becoming  gravity  the  pompous  ceremonial 
observed  in  his  academy  on  the  event  of  a  public  cele- 
bration. The  topics  of  discussion  were  **  the  praises 
of  the  Virgin,  love,  arms,  and  other  good  usages." 
The  performances  of  the  candidates,  **  inscribed  on 
parchment  of  various  colors,  richly  enamelled  with 
gold  and  silver,  and  beautifully  illuminated,"  were 
publicly  recited,  and  then  referred  to  a  committee,  who 
made  solemn  oath  to  decide  impartially  and  according 
to  the  rules  of  the  art.  On  the  delivery  of  the  ver- 
dict, a  wreath  of  gold  was  deposited  on  the  victorious 
poem,  which  was  registered  in  the  academic  archives ; 
and  the  fortunate  troubadour,  greeted  with  a  magnificent 
prize,  was  escorted  to  the  royal  palace  amid  a  cortege 
of  minstrelsy  and  chivalry ;  "  thus  manifesting  to  the 
world,"  says  the  marquis,  "  the  superiority  which  God 
and  nature  have  assigned  to  genius  over  dulness. '  '** 

The  influence  of  such  an  institution  in  awakening  a 
poetic  spirit  is  at  best  very  questionable.  Whatever 
effect  an  academy  may  have  in  stimulating  the  re- 
searches of  science,  the  inspirations  of  genius  must 
come  unbidden ; 

"Adflata  est  numine  quando 
Jam  propiore  dei." 

9°  Mayans  y  Siscar,  Origenes  de la  Lengua  Espanola  (Madrid,  1737), 
torn.  ii.  pp.  323,  324. — Crescimbeni,  Istoria  della  volgar  Poesia  (Ve- 
nezia,  1731),  torn.  ii.  p.  170. — Mariana,  Hist,  de  Espaiia,  torn.  i.  p.  183. 
— Velazquez,  Poesia  Castellana,  pp.  23,  24. 

9>  Mayans  y  Siscar,  Origenes,  torn.  ii.  pp.  325-327. 


96 


INTRODUCTION. 


1    ! 


The  Catalans,  indeed,  seem  to  have  been  of  this  vopin- 
ion ;  for  they  suffered  the  Consistory  of  Tortosia  to 
expire  with  its  founder.  Somewhat  later,  in  1430,  was 
established  the  University  of  Barcelona,  placed  under 
the  direction  of  the  municipality,  and  endowed  by  the 
city  with  ample  funds  for  instruction  in  the  various 
departments  of  law,  theology,  medicine,  and  the  belles- 
lettres.  This  institution  survived  until  the  commence- 
ment of  the  last  century. 9=" 

During  the  first  half  of  the  fifteenth  century,  long 
after  the  genuine  race  of  the  troubadours  had  passed 
away,  the  Provencal  or  Limousin  verse  was  carried  to 
its  highest  excellence  by  the  poets  of  Valencia. ''  It 
would  be  presumptuous  for  any  one,  who  has  not  made 
the  romance  dialects  his  particular  study,  to  attempt  a 
discriminating  criticism  of  these  compositions,  so  much 
of  the  merit  of  which  necessarily  consists  in  the  almost 
impalpable  beauties  of  style  and  expression.  The 
Spaniards,  however,  applaud,  in  the  verses  of  Ausias 
March,  the  same  musical  combinations  of  sound,  and 
the  same  tone  of  moral  melancholy,  which  pervade  the 
productions  of  Petrarch.**    In  prose,  too,  they  have 

9»  Andres,  Letteratura,  torn.  iv.  pp.  85,  86. — Capmany,  Mem.  de 
Barcelona,  torn.  ii.  Apend.  no.  16. — There  were  thirty-two  chairs,  or 
professorships,  founded  and  maintained  at  the  expense  of  the  city  :  six 
of  theology ;  six  of  jurisprudence ;  five  of  medicine ;  six  of  philoso- 
phy ;  four  of  grammar ;  one  of  rhetoric ;  one  of  surgery ;  one  of  an- 
atomy ;  one  of  Hebrew,  and  another  of  Greek.  It  is  singular  that 
none  should  have  existed  for  the  Latin,  so  much  more  currently  studied 
at  that  time,  and  of  so  much  more  practical  application  always  than 
either  of  the  other  ancient  languages. 

93  The  Valencian,  "  the  sweetest  and  most  graceful  of  the  Limousin 
dialects,"  says  Mayans  y  Siscar,  Origenes,  tom.  i.  p.  58. 

94  Nicolas  Antonio,  Bibliotheca  Hispana  Vetus  (Matriti,  1788),  tom. 
ii.  p.  146. — Andres,  Letteratura,  tom.  iv.  p.  87. 


ARAGON, 


97 


(to  borrow  the  words  of  Andres)  their  Boccaccio  in 
Martorell,  whose  fiction  of  **Tirante  el  Blanco"  is 
honored  by  the  commendation  of  the  curate  in  Don 
Quixote,  as  "  the  best  book  in  the  world  of  the  kind, 
since  the  knights-errant  in  it  eat,  drink,  sleep,  and  die 
quietly  in  their  beds,  like  other  folk,  and  very  unlike 
most  heroes  of  romance."  The  i^roductions  of  these, 
and  some  other  of  their  distinguished  contemporaries, 
obtained  a  general  circulation  very  early  by  means  of 
the  recently  invented  art  of  printing,  and  subsequently 
passed  into  repeated  editions.^s  But  their  language  has 
long  since  ceased  to  be  the  language  of  literature.  On 
the  union  of  the  two  crowns  of  Castile  and  Aragon, 
the  dialect  of  the  former  became  that  of  the  court  and 
of  the  Muses.  The  beautiful  Provencal,  once  more 
rich  and  melodious  than  any  other  idiom  in  the  Penin- 
sula, was  abandoned  as  d,  patois  to  the  lower  orders  of 
the  Catalans,  who,  with  the  language,  may  boast  that 
they  also  have  inherited  the  noble  principles  of  freedom 
which  distinguished  their  ancestors. 

9S  Cervantes,  Don  Quixote  (ed.  de  Pellicer,  Madrid,  1787),  torn.  i. 
p.  62. — Mendez,  Typographia  Espanola  (Madrid,  1796),  pp.  72-75. — 
Andres,  Letteratura,  ubi  supra. — Pellicer  seems  to  take  Martorell's 
word  in  good  earnest,  that  his  book  is  only  a  version  from  the  Cas- 
tilian.  The  names  of  some  of  the  most  noted  troubadours  are  col- 
lected by  Velazquez,  Poesia  Castellana  (pp.  20-24. — Capmany,  Mem. 
de  Barcelona,  tom.  ii.  Apend.  no.  5).  Some  extracts  and  pertinent 
criticisms  on  their  productions  may  be  found  by  the  English  reader  in 
the  Retrospective  Review.  (No.  7,  art.  2.)  It  is  to  be  regretted  that 
the  author  has  not  redeemed  his  pledge  of  continuing  his  notices  to 
the  Castilian  era  of  Spanish  poetry. 


The  influence  of  free  institutions  in  Aragon  is  perceptible  in  the 
familiarity  displayed  by  its  writers  with  public  affairs,  and  in  the  free- 
VOL.  I. — 7  E 


98 


INTRODUCTION. 


li 


i:! 


dom  with  which  they  have  discussed  the  organization  and  general 
economy  of  its  government.  The  creation  of  tlie  office  of  national 
chronicler,  under  Charles  V.,  gave  wider  scope  to  the  development  of 
historic  talent.  Among  the  most  conspicuous  of  these  historiographers 
was  Jerome  DIancas,  several  of  whose  productions,  as  the  "  Corona- 
ciones  de  los  Reyes,"  "  Modo  de  proceder  en  Cortes,"  and  "  Com- 
mentarii  Rerum  Aragonensium,"  especially  the  last,  have  been  repeat- 
edly quoted  in  the  preceding  section.  This  work  presents  a  view  of 
the  different  orders  of  the  state,  and  particularly  of  the  office  of  the 
Justicia,  with  their  peculiar  functions  and  privileges.  The  author, 
omitting  the  usual  details  of  history,  has  devoted  himself  to  the  illus- 
tration of  the  constitutional  antiquities  of  his  country,  in  the  execution 
of  which  he  has  shown  a  sagacity  and  erudition  equally  profound.  His 
sentiments  breathe  a  generous  love  of  freedom,  which  one  would 
scarcely  suppose  to  have  existed,  and  still  less  to  have  been  promul- 
gated, under  Philip  II.  His  style  is  distinguished  by  the  purity  and 
even  elegance  of  its  latinity.  The  first  edition,  being  that  which  I 
have  used,  appeared  in  1588,  in  folio,  at  Saragossa,  executed  with 
much  typographical  beauty.  The  work  was  afterwards  incorporated 
into  Schottus's  "  Hispania  lUustrata." — Blancos,  after  having  held  his 
office  for  ten  years,  died  in  his  native  city  of  Saragossa,  in  1590. 

Jerome  Martel,  from  whose  little  treatise,  "  Forma  de  celebrar  Cor- 
tes," I  have  also  liberally  cited,  was  appointed  public  historiographer 
in  1597.  His  continuation  of  Zurita's  Annals,  which  he  left  unpub- 
lished at  his  decease,  was  never  admitted  to  the  honors  of  the  press, 
because,  says  his  biographer,  Uztarroz,  verdades  iasii";un  ;  a  reason  as 
creditable  to  the  author  as  disgraceful  to  the  government. 

A  third  writer,  and  the  one  chiefly  relied  on  for  the  account  of  Cata- 
lonia, is  Don  Antonio  Capmany.  His  "  Memorias  hist6ricas  de  Bar- 
celona" (s  torn.  4to,  Madrid,  1779-1792)  may  be  thought  somewhat 
too  discursive  and  circumstantial  for  his  subject;  but  it  is  hardly 
right  to  quarrel  with  information  so  rare  and  painfully  collected ;  the 
sin  of  exuberance  at  any  rate  is  much  less  frequent,  and  more  easily 
corrected,  than  that  of  sterility.  His  work  is  a  vast  repertory  of  facts 
relating  to  the  commerce,  manufactures,  general  policy,  and  public 
prosperity,  not  only  of  Barcelona,  but  of  Catalonia.  It  is  written 
with  an  independent  and  liberal  spirit,  which  may  be  regarded  as 
affording  the  best  commentary  on  the  genius  of  the  institutions  which 
he  celebrates. — Capmany  closed  his  useful  labors  at  Madrid,  in  1810, 
at  the  age  of  fifty-six. 


A  RAG  ON. 


99 


Notwithstanding  the  interesting  character  of  the  Aragoncse  consti* 
tution,  and  the  amplitude  of  materials  for  its  history,  the  subject  has 
been  hitherto  neglected,  as  far  as  I  am  aware,  by  continental  writers. 
Robertson  and  Hallam,  more  especially  the  latter,  have  given  such  a 
view  of  its  prominent  features  to  the  English  reader  as  must,  I  fear, 
deprive  the  sketch  which  I  have  attempted,  in  a  great  degree,  of 
novelty.  To  these  names  must  now  be  added  that  of  the  author  of 
the  "  History  of  Spain  and  Portugal"  (Cabinet  Cyclopaedia),  whose 
work,  published  since  the  preceding  pages  were  written,  contains  much 
curious  and  learned  disquisition  on  the  early  jurisprujence  and 
municipal  institutions  of  both  Castile  and  Aragon. 


(lOO) 


PART    FIRST. 

Z4o6-x4g2. 

The  period  when  the  different  kingdoms  of  Spain  were 
first  united  under  one  monarchy,  and  a  thorough 
reform  was  introduced  into  their  internal  adminis- 
tration; or  the  period  exhibiting  most  fully  the 
domestic  policy  of  ferdinand  and  isabella. 


(Id) 


CHAPTER   I. 

STATE  OF  CASTILE  AT  THE  BIRTH  OF  ISABELLA. — REIGN 
OF    JOHN    II.   OF   CASTILE. 

I406-I454. 


Revolution  of  Trastamara. — Accession  of  John  II. — Rise  of  Alvarode 
Luna. — Jealousy  of  the  Nobles. — Oppression  of  the  Commons. — Its 
Consequences. — Early  Literature  of  Castile. — Its  Encouragement 
under  John  II. — Decline  of  Alvaro  de  Luna. — His  Fall. — Death  of 
John  II.— Birth  of  Isabella. 

The  fierce  civil  feuds  which  preceded  the  accession 
of  the  house  of  Trastamara  in  1368  were  as  fatal  to 
the  nobility  of  Castile  as  the  wars  of  the  Roses  were 
to  that  of  England.  There  was  scarcely  a  family  of 
note  which  had  not  poured  out  its  blood  on  the  field 
or  the  scaffold.  The  influence  of  the  aristocracy  was, 
of  course,  much  diminished  with  its  numbers.  The 
long  wars  with  foreign  powers,  which  a  disputed  suc- 
cession entailed  on  the  country,  were  almost  equally 
prejudicial  to  the  authority  of  the  monarch,  who  was 
willing  to  buoy  up  his  tottering  title  by  the  most  liberal 
concession  of  privileges  to  the  people.  Thus  the  com- 
mons rose  in  proportion  as  the  crown  and  the  privileged 
orders  descended  in  the  scale;  and,  when  the  claims 
of  the  several  competitors  for  the  throne  were  finally 
extinguished,  and  the  tranquillity  of  the  kingdom  was 

( 103 ) 


I04 


REIGN  OF  JOHN  II.  OF  CASTILE. 


M 


secured,  by  the  union  of  Henry  the  Third  with  Catha- 
rine of  Lancaster  at  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
the  third  estate  may  be  said  to  have  attained  to  the 
highest  degree  of  political  consequence  which  it  ever 
reached  in  Castile. 

Tho  healthful  action  of  the  body  politic,  during  the 
long  interval  of  peace  that  followed  this  auspicious 
union,  enabled  it  to  repair  the  strength  which  had 
been  wasted  in  its  murderous  civil  contests.  The 
ancient  channels  of  commerce  were  again  opened; 
various  new  manufactures  were  introduced,  and  car- 
ried to  a  considerable  perfection;^  wealth,  with  its 
usual  concomitants,  elegance  and  comfort,  flowed  in 
apace ;  and  the  nation  promised  itself  a  long  career  of 
prosperity  under  a  monarch  who  respected  the  laws  in 
his  own  person  and  administered  them  with  vigor. 
All  these  fair  hopes  were  blasted  by  the  premature 
death  of  Henry  the  Third,  before  he  had  reached  his 
twenty-eighth  year.  The  crown  devolved  on  his  son 
John  the  Second,  then  a  minor,  whose  reign  was  one 
of  the  longest  and  the  most  disastrous  in  the  Castilian 
annals."  As  it  was  that,  however,  which  gave  birth 
to  Isabella,  the  illustrious  subject  of  our  narrative,  it 
will  be  necessary  to  pass  its  principal  features  under 
review,  in  order  to  obtain  a  correct  idea  of  her  gov- 
ernment. 

The  wise  administration  of  the  regency,  during  a 
long  minority,  postponed  the  season  of  calamity;  and, 
when  it  at  length  arrived,  it  was  concealed  for  some 


'  Sempere  y  Guarinos,  Historia  del  Luxo,  torn.  i.  p.  171, 
2  Cronica  de  Enrique  III.,  ed.  de  la  Academia  (Madrid,  1780),  pas« 
sim. — Cronica  de  Juan  II.  (Valencia,  1779),  p.  6. 


^^ 


BIRTH  OF  ISABELLA. 


105 


time  from  the  eyes  of  the  vulgar  by  the  pomp  and 
brilliant  festivities  which  distinguished  the  court  of  the 
young  monarch.  His  indisposition,  if  not  incapacity, 
for  business,  however,  gradually  became  manifest;  and, 
while  he  resigned  himself  without  reserve  to  pleasures, 
which  it  must  be  confessed  were  not  unfrequently  of  a 
refined  and  intellectual  character,  he  abandoned  the 
government  of  his  kingdom  to  the  control  of  favorites. 
The  most  conspicuous  of  these  was  Alvaro  de  Luna, 
grand  master  of  St.  James,  and  constable  of  Castile. 
This  remarkable  person,  the  illegitimate  descendant 
of  a  noble  house  in  Aragon,  was  introduced  very  early 
as  a  j,  \ge  into  the  royal  household,  where  he  soon  dis- 
tinfe  '  '1  himself  by  his  amiable  manners  and  personal 
acco;  ^.  1  wiiments.  He  could  ride,  fence,  dance,  sing, 
if  we  may  credit  his  loyal  biographer,  better  than  any 
other  cavalier  in  the  court;  while  his  proficiency  in 
music  and  poetry  recommended  him  most  effectually 
to  the  favor  of  the  monarch,  who  professed  to  be  a 
connoisseur  in  both.  With  these  showy  qualities, 
Alvaro  de  Luna  united  others  of  a  more  dangerous 
complexion.  His  insinuating  address  easily  conciliated 
confidence,  and  enabled  him  to  master  the  motives 
of  others,  while  his  own  were  masked  by  consummate 
dissimulation.  He  was  as  fearless  in  executing  his  am- 
bitious schemes  as  he  was  cautious  in  devising  them. 
He  was  indefatigable  in  his  application  to  business,  so 
that  John,  whose  aversion  to  it  we  have  noticed,  will- 
ingly reposed  on  him  the  whole  burden  of  govern- 
ment. The  king,  it  was  said,  only  signed,  while  the 
constable  dictated  and  executed.  He  was  the  only 
channel  of  promotion  to  public  office,  whether  secular 

E* 


xo6 


KEIGN  OF   70HN  II.  OF  CASTILE. 


or  ecclesiastical.  As  his  cupidity  was  insatiable,  he 
perverted  the  great  trust  confided  to  him  to  the  acqui- 
sition of  the  principal  posts  in  the  government  for  him- 
self or  his  kindred,  and  at  his  death  is  said  to  have  left 
a  larger  amount  of  treasure  than  was  possessed  by  the 
whole  nobility  of  the  kingdom.  He  affected  a  magnifi- 
cence of  state  corresponding  with  his  elevated  rank. 
The  most  considerable  grandees  in  Castile  contended 
for  the  honor  of  having  their  sons,  after  the  fashion  of 
the  time,  educated  in  his  family.  When  he  rode  abroad, 
he  was  accompanied  by  a  numerous  retinue  of  knights 
and  nobles,  which  left  his  sovereign's  court  compara- 
tively deserted ;  so  that  royalty  might  be  said  on  all  oc- 
casions, whether  of  business  or  pleasure,  to  be  eclipsed 
by  the  superior  splendors  of  its  satellite. ^  The  history 
of  this  man  may  remind  the  English  reader  of  that  of 
Cardinal  Wolsey,  whom  he  somewhat  resembled  in 
character,  and  still  more  in  his  extraordinary  fortunes. 
It  may  easily  be  believed  that  the  haughty  aristocracy 
of  Castile  would  ill  brook  this  exaltation  of  an  indi- 
vidual so  inferior  to  them  in  birth,  and  who  withal  did 
not  wear  his  honors  with  exemplary  meekness.  John's 
blind  partiality  for  his  favorite  is  the  key  to  all  the 
troubles  which  agitated  the  kingdom  during  the  last 
thirty  years  of  his  reign.  The  disgusted  nobles  organ- 
ized confederacies  for  the  purpose  of  deposing  the 
minister.     The  whole  nation  took  sides  in  this  un- 

3  Cr6nica  de  Alvaro  de  Luna,  ed.  de  la  Academia  (Madrid,  1784), 
tit.  3,5,68,  74. — Guzman,  Generaciones  ySemblanzas  (Madrid,  1775), 
cap.  33,  34. — Abarca,  Reyes  de  Aragon,  en  Anales  hist6ricos,  torn.  i. 
fol.  227. — Cronica  de  Juan  II.,  passim. — He  possessed  sixty  towns 
and  fortresses,  and  kept  three  thousand  lances  constantly  in  pay. 
Oviedo,  Quincuagenas,  MS. 


•  BIRTH  OF  ISABELLA, 


107 


happy  struggle.  The  heats  of  civil  discord  were  still 
further  heightened  by  the  interference  of  the  royal 
house  of  Aragon,  which,  descended  from  a  common 
stock  with  that  of  Castile,  was  proprietor  of  large 
estates  in  the  latter  country.  The  wretched  monarch 
beheld  even  his  own  son  Henry,  the  heir  to  the  crown, 
enlisted  in  the  opposite  faction,  and  saw  himself  re- 
duced to  the  extremity  of  shedding  the  blood  of  his 
subjects  in  the  fatal  battle  of  Olmedo.  Still  the  ad- 
dress, or  the  good  fortune,  of  the  constable  enabled 
him  to  triumph  over  his  enemies;  and,  although  he 
was  obliged  occasionally  to  yield  to  the  violence  of 
the  storm  and  withdraw  a  while  from  the  court,  he 
was  soon  recalled  and  reinstated  in  all  his  former  dig- 
nities. This  melancholy  infatuation  of  the  king  is 
imputed  by  the  writers  of  that  age  to  sorcery  on  the 
part  of  the  favorite.*  But  the  only  witchcraft  which 
he  used  was  the  ascendency  of  a  strong  mind  over  a 
weak  one. 

During  this  long-protracted  anarchy,  the  people  lost 
whatever  they  had  gained  in  the  two  preceding  reigns. 
By  the  advice  of  his  minister,  who  seems  to  have  pos- 
sessed a  full  measure  of  the  insolence  so  usual  with 
persons  suddenly  advanced  from  low  to  elevated  sta- 
tion, the  king  not  only  abandoned  the  constitutional 

4  Guzman,  Generaciones,  cap,  33. — Cronica  de  Don  Juan  II.,  p. 
491,  et  alibi. — His  complaisance  for  the  favorite,  indeed,  must  be  ad- 
mitted, if  we  believe  Guzman,  to  have  been  of  a  most  extraordinary 
kind:  "  E  lo  que  con  mayoir maravilla  se  pueue  decir  e  oir,  que  aun 
en  los  autos  naturales  se  dio  asi  d  la  ordenanza  del  condestable,  que 
seyendo  el  mozo  bien  complexionado,  e  teniendo  d  la  reyna  su  muger 
moza  y  hermosa,  si  el  condestable  se  lo  contradixiese,  no  iria  d  dormir 
ti  su  cama  della."     Ubi  supra. 


Il 


1 08 


REIGN  OF  JOHN  II.  OF  CASTILE. 


il^ 


policy  of  his  predecessors  in  regard  to  the  commons, 
but  entered  on  the  most  arbitrary  and  systematic  viola- 
tion of  their  rights.  Their  deputies  were  excluded 
from  the  privy  council,  or  lost  all  influence  in  it.  At- 
tempts were  made  to  impose  taxes  without  the  legisla- 
tive sanction.  The  municipal  territories  were  alienated, 
and  lavished  on  the  royal  minions.  The  freedom  of 
elections  was  invaded,  and  delegates  to  cortes  \^ere 
frequently  nominated  by  the  crown ;  and,  to  complete 
the  iniquitous  scheme  of  oppression,  pragmdticas,  or 
royal  proclamations,  were  issued,  containing  provisions 
repugnant  to  the  acknowledged  law  of  the  land,  and 
affirming  in  the  most  unqualified  terms  the  right  of 
the  sovereign  to  legislate  for  his  subjects.^  The 
commons,  indeed,  when  assembled  in  cortes,  stoutly 
resisted  the  assumption  of  such  unconstitutional  powers 
by  the  crown,  and  compelled  the  prince  not  only  to 
revoke  his  pretensions,  but  to  accompany  his  revoca- 
tion with  the  most  humiliating  concessions.*  They 
even  ventured  so  far,  during  this  reign,  as  to  regu- 
late the  expenses  of  the  royal  household ;'  and  their 

s  Marina,  Teoria,  torn.  i.  cap.  20, — torn.  ii.  pp.  216,  390,  391, — torn, 
iii.  part.  2,  no.  4. — Capmany,  Prdctica  y  Estilo,  pp.  234,  235. — Sem- 
pere,  Histoire  des  Cortes,  ch.  18,  24. 

6  Several  of  this  prince's  laws  for  redressing  the  alleged  grievances 
are  incorporated  in  the  great  code  of  Philip  II.  (Recopilacion  de  las 
Leyes  (Madrid,  1640),  lib.  6,  tit.  7,  leyes  5,  7,  2),  which  declares,  in 
the  most  unequivocal  language,  the  right  of  the  commons  to  be  con- 
sulted on  all  important  matters :  "  Porque  en  los  hechos  arduos  de 
nuestros  reynos  es  necessario  consejo  de  nuestros  subditos,  y  naturales, 
especialmente  de  los  procuradores  de  las  nuestros  ciudades,  villas,  y  lu- 
gares  de  los  nuestros  reynos."  It  was  much  easier  to  extort  good  laws 
from  this  monarch  than  to  enforce  them. 

7  Mariana,  Historia  de  Espana,  torn.  ii.  p.  299. 


BIRTH  OF  ISABELLA. 


109 


language  to  the  throne  on  all  these  occasions,  though 
temperate  and  loyal,  breathed  a  generous  spirit  of 
patriotism,  evincing  a  perfect  consciousness  of  their 
own  rights,  and  a  steady  determination  to  maintain 
them.^ 

Alas  !  what  could  such  resolution  avail,  in  thi  "^  .aoon 
of  misrule,  against  the  intrigues  of  a  cunning  and  pro- 
fligate minister,  unsupported,  too,  as  the  commons 
were,  by  any  sympathy  or  co-operation  on  the  part  of 
the  higher  orders  of  the  state  !  A  scheme  was  devised 
for  bringing  the  popular  branch  of  the  legislature  more 
efifectually  within  the  control  of  the  crown,  by  dimin- 
ishing the  number  of  its  constituents.  It  has  been 
already  remarked,  in  the  Introduction,  that  a  great 
irregularity  prevailed  in  Castile  as  to  the  number  of 
cities  which,  at  different  times,  exercised  the  right  of 
representation.  During  the  fourteenth  century,  the 
deputation  from  this  order  had  been  uncommonly  full. 
The  king,  however,  availing  himself  of  this  indeter- 
minateness,  caused  writs  to  be  issued  to  a  very  small 
proportion  of  the  towns  which  had  usually  enjoyed  the 
privilege.  Some  of  those  that  were  excluded,  indig- 
nantly, though  ineffectually,  remonstrated  against  this 
abuse.  Others,  previously  despoiled  of  their  posses- 
sions by  the  rapacity  of  the  crown,  or  impoverished  by 
the  disastrous  feuds  into  which  the  country  had  been 
thrown,  acquiesced  in  the  measure  from  motives  of 
economy.  From  the  same  mistaken  policy,  several 
cities,  again,  as  Burgos,  Toledo,  and  others,  petitioned 
the  sovereign  to  defray  the  charges  of  their  representa- 
tives from  the  royal  treasury ;  a  most  ill-advised  parsi- 

8  Marina,  Teoria,  ubi  supra. 


no  REIGN  OF  JOHN  I  J.  OF  CASTILE. 

mony,  which  suggested  to  the  crown  a  plausible  pre- 
text for  the  new  system  of  exclusion.  In  this  manner 
the  Castilian  cortes,  which,  notwithstanding  its  occa- 
sional fluctuations,  had  exhibited  during  the  preceding 
century  what  might  be  regarded  as  a  representation 
of  the  whole  commonwealth,  was  gradually  reduced, 
during  the  reigns  of  John  the  Second  and  his  son 
Henry  the  Fourth,  to  the  deputations  of  some  seven- 
teen or  eighteen  cities.  And  to  this  number,  with 
slight  variation,  it  has  been  restricted  until  the  occur- 
rence of  the  recent  revolutionary  movements  in  that 
kingdom." 

The  non-represented  were  required  to  transmit  their 
instructions  to  the  deputies  of  the  privileged  cities. 
Thus  Salamanca  appeared  in  behalf  of  five  hundred 
towns  and  fourteen  hundred  villages ;  and  the  populous 
province  of  Galicia  was  represented  by  the  little  town 
of  Zamora,  which  is  not  even  included  within  its  geo- 
graphical limits."  The  priv'lage  of  a  voice  in  cortes ^ 
as  it  was  called,  came  at  length  to  be  prized  so  highly 
by  the  favored  cities,  that  when,  in  1506,  some  of  those 
which  were  excluded  solicited  the  restitution  of  their 
ancient  rights,  their  petition  was  opposed  by  the  former 
on  the  impudent  pretence  that  "  the  right  of  deputa- 
tion had  been  reserved  by  ancient  law  and  usage  to 
only  eighteen  cities  of  the  realm.""    In  this  short- 

9  Capmany,  Prdctica  y  Estilo,  p.  228. — Sempere,  Hist,  des  CortSs, 
chap.  19. — Marina,  Teoria,  part,  i,  cap.  16. — In  1656,  the  city  of  Pa- 
lencia  was  content  to  repurchase  its  ancient  right  of  representation 
from  the  crown,  at  an  expense  of  80,000  ducats. 

»o  Capmany,  Prslctica  y  Estilo,  p.  230. — Sempere,  Hist,  des  Cortes, 
chap.  19. 

"  Marina,  Teoria,  torn.  i.  p.  161. 


BIRTH  OF  ISABELLA. 


Ill 


sighted  and  most  unhappy  policy,  we  see  the  operation 
of  those  local  jealousies  and  estrangements  to  which 
we  have  alluded  in  the  I  '  duction.  But  although  the 
cortes,  thus  reduced  in  ..umbers,  necessarily  lost  much 
of  its  weight,  it  still  maintained  a  bold  front  against 
the  usurpations  of  the  crown.  It  does  not  appear,  in- 
deed, that  any  attempt  was  made  under  John  the 
Second,  or  his  successor,  to  corrupt  its  members,  or  to 
control  the  freedom  of  debate ;  although  such  a  pro- 
ceeding is  not  improbable,  as  altogether  conformable  to 
their  ordinary  policy,  and  as  the  natural  result  of  their 
preliminary  measures.  But,  however  true  the  deputies 
continued  to  themselves  and  to  those  who  sent  them, 
it  is  evident  that  so  limited  and  partial  a  selection  no 
longer  afforded  a  representation  of  the  interests  of  the 
whole  country.  Their  necessarily  imperfect  acquaint- 
ance with  the  principles  or  even  wishes  of  their  widely 
scattered  constituents,  in  an  age  when  knowledge  was 
not  circulated  on  the  thousand  wings  of  the  press,  as 
in  our  day,  must  have  left  them  oftentimes  in  painful 
uncertainty,  and  deprived  them  of  the  cheering  sup- 
port of  public  opinion.  The  voice  of  remonstrance, 
which  derives  such  confidence  from  numbers,  would 
hardly  now  be  raised  in  their  deserted  halls  with  the 
same  frequency  or  energy  as  before ;  and,  however  the 
representatives  of  that  day  might  maintain  their  in- 
tegrity uncorrupted,  yet,  as  every  facility  was  afforded 
to  the  undue  influence  of  the  crown,  the  time  might 
come  when  venality  would  prove  stronger  than  princi- 
ple, and  the  unworthy  patriot  be  tempted  to  sacrifice 
his  birthright  for  a  mess  of  pottage.  Thus  early  was 
the  fair  dawn  of  freedom  overcast,  which  opened  in 


ri:      '■ 


\l 


'M 


112  REIGN  OF  JOHN  II.  OF  CASTILE. 

Castile  under  more  brilliant  auspices,  perhaps,  than  in 
any  other  country  in  Europe. 

While  the  reign  of  John  the  Second  is  so  deservedly 
odious  in  a  political  viewr,  in  a  literary  it  may  be  in- 
scribed with  what  Giovio  calls  **  the  golden  pen  of 
history."  It  was  an  epoch  in  the  Castilian,  corre- 
sponding with  that  of  the  reign  of  Francis  the  First  in 
French  literature,  distinguished  not  so  much  by  any 
production  of  extraordinary  genius  as  by  the  effort 
made  for  the  introduction  of  an  elegant  culture,  by 
conducting  it  on  more  scientific  principles  than  had 
been  hitherto  known.  The  early  literature  of  Castile 
could  boast  of  the  "Poem  of  the  Cid,"  in  some  re- 
spects the  most  remarkable  performance  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  It  was  enriched,  moreover,  with  other  elaborate 
compositions,  displaying  occasional  glimpses  of  a  buoy- 
ant fancy,  or  of  sensibility  to  external  beauty,  to  say 
nothing  of  those  delightful  romantic  ballads,  which 
seemed  to  spring  up  spontaneously  in  every  quarter  of 
the  country,  like  the  natural  wild  flowers  of  the  soil. 
But  the  unaffected  beauties  of  sentiment,  which  seem 
rather  the  result  of  accident  than  design,  were  dearly 
purchased,  in  the  more  extended  pieces,  at  the  expense 
of  such  a  crude  mass  of  grotesque  and  undigested  verse 
as  shows  an  entire  ignorance  of  the  principles  of  the 
art." 

The  profession  of  letters  itself  was  held  in  little 
repute  by  the  higher  orders  of  the  nation,  who  were 
altogether  untinctured  with  liberal  learning.  While 
the  nobles  of  the  sister  kingdom  of  Aragon,  assembled 

"  See  the  ample  collections  of  Sanchez,  "  Poesias  Castcllanas  an- 
teriores  al  Siglo  XV."    4  torn.,  Madrid,  1779-1790. 


BIRTH  OF  ISABELLA, 


»»3 


in  their  poetic  courts,  in  imitation  of  their  Provengal 
neighbors,  vied  with  each  other  in  lays  of  love  and 
chivalry,  those  of  Castile  disdained  these  effeminate 
pleasure's  as  unworthy  of  the  profession  of  arms,  the 
only  one  of  any  estimation  in  their  eyes.  The  benig- 
nant influence  of  John  was  perceptible  in  softening 
this  ferocious  temper.  He  was  himself  sufficiently  ac- 
complished, for  a  king,  and,  notwithstanding  his  aver- 
sion to  business,  manifested,  as  has  been  noticed,  a 
lively  relish  for  intellectual  enjoyment.  He  was  fond 
of  books,  wrote  and  spoke  Latin  with  facility,  com- 
posed verses,  and  condescended  occasionally  to  correct 
those  of  his  loving  subjects.'^  Whatever  might  be  the 
value  of  his  criticisms,  that  of  his  example  cannot  be 
doubted.  The  courtiers,  with  the  quick  scent  for  their 
own  interest  which  distinguishes  the  tribe  in  every 
country,  soon  turned  their  attention  to  the  same  polite 
studies  ;^  and  thus  Castilian  poetry  received  very  early 
the  courtly  stamp  which  continued  its  prominent  char- 
acteristic down  to  the  age  of  its  meridian  glory. 

Among  the  most  eminent  of  these  noble  savans  was 
Henry,  marquis  of  Villena,  descended  from  the  royal 
houses  of  Castile  and  Aragon,'^  but  more  illustrious,  as 

'3  Guzman,  Generaciones,  cap.  33. — Gomez  de  Cibdareal,  Centon 
epistolario  (Madrid,  1775),  epist.  20,  49. — Cibdareal  has  given  us  a 
specimen  of  this  royal  criticism,  which  Juan  de  Mena,  the  subject  of 
it,  was  courtier  enough  to  adopt. 

'4  Velazquez,  Origenes  de  la  Poesia  Castellana  (Mdlaga,  1797),  p. 
45. — Sanchez,  Poesias  Castellanas,  torn.  i.  p.  10. — "  The  Cancioneros 
generales,  in  print  and  in  manuscript,"  says  Sanchez,  "  show  the  great 
number  of  dukes,  counts,  marquises,  and  other  nobles  who  cultivated 
this  art." 

»s  He  was  the  grandson,  not,  as  Sanchez  supposes  (tom.  i.  p.  15), 
the  son,  of  Alonso  de  Villena,  the  first  marquis  as  well  as  constable 
VOL.  I.— 8 


a 


m  ■ 


II  1 


:M 


.      I  I'M 


1  f 

i  1 


'  III 
<?;■;■ 


1X4  REIGN  OF  JOHN  II.   OF  CASTILE. 

one  of  his  countrymen  has  observed,  by  his  talents  and 
attainments  than  by  his  birth.  His  whole  life  was 
consecrated  to  letters,  and  especially  to  the  study  of 
natural  science.  I  am  not  aware  that  any  specimen  of 
his  poetry,  although  much  lauded  by  his  contempo- 
raries,'* has  come  down  to  us.''  He  translated  Dante's 
"  Commedia"  into  prose,  and  is  said  to  have  given  the 
first  example  of  a  version  of  the  ^Eneid  into  a  modern 
language.'^  He  labored  assiduously  to  introduce  a 
more  cultivated  taste  among  his  countrymen,  and  his 
little  treatise  on  the  gaya  sciencia,  as  the  divine  art  was 

created  in  Castile,  descended  from  James  II.  of  Aragon,  (See  Dor- 
mer, Enmiendas  y  Advertencias  de  Zurita  (Zaragoza,  1683),  pp.  371- 
376.)  His  mother  was  an  illegitimate  daughter  of  Henry  II.  of  Cas- 
tile. Guzman,  Generaciones,  cap.  28. — Salazar  de  Mcndoza,  Monar- 
quia  de  Espafia  (Madrid,  1770),  torn.  i.  pp.  203,  339. 

»*  Guzman,  Generaciones,  cap.  28. — Juan  de  Mena  introduces  Vil- 
lena  into  his  "  Laberinto,"  in  an  agreeable  stanza,  which  has  some- 
thing of  the  mannerism  of  Dante : 

"  Aqtiel  claro  padre  aquel  dulce  fuente 
aquel  que  en  el  castolo  inonte  resuena 
es  don  Enrique  Sefior  de  Villena 
honrra  de  Espafia  y  del  siglo  presente,"  etc. 

Juan  de  Mena,  Obras  (AlcaM,  1566),  fol.  138. 

'7  The  recent  Castilian  translators  of  Bouterwek's  History  of  Span- 
ish Literature  have  fallen  into  an  error  in  imputing  the  beautiful  can- 
cioH  of  the  "  Querella  de  Amor"  to  Villena.  It  was  composed  by  the 
marquis  of  Santillana.  (Bouterwek,  Historia  de  la  Literatura  Es- 
paiiola,  traducida  por  Cortina  y  Hugalde  y  MoUinedo  (Madrid,  1829), 
p.  196,  and  Sanchez,  Poesias  Castellanas,  tom.  i.  pp.  38,  143.) — The 
mistake  into  which  Nicolas  Antonio  had  also  fallen,  in  supposing 
Villena's  "Trabajos  de  Hercules"  written  in  verse,  has  been  subse- 
quently corrected  by  his  learned  commentator  Bayer.  See  Nicolas 
Antonio,  Bibliotheca  Hispana  Vetus,  tom.  ii.  p.  222,  nota. 

18  Velazquez,  Origenes  de  la  Poesia  Castellana,  p.  45. — Bouterwek, 
Literatura  Espanola,  trad,  de  Cortina  y  MoUinedo,  nota  S. 


BIRTH  OF  ISABELLA. 


"5 


then  called,  in  which  he  gives  an  historical  and  critical 
view  of  the  poetical  Consistory  of  Barcelona,  is  the 
first  approximation,  however  faint,  to  an  Art  of  Poetry 
in  the  Castilian  tongue.''  The  exclusiveness  with 
which  he  devoted  himself  to  science,  and  especially 
astronomy,  to  the  utter  neglect  of  his  temporal  con- 
cerns, led  the  wits  of  that  day  to  remark  that  "  he  knew 
much  of  heaven,  and  nothing  of  earth."  He  p.i  d  the 
usual  penalty  of  such  indifference  to  worldly  weal,  by 
seeing  himself  eventually  stripped  of  his  lordly  pos 
sessions,  and  reduced,  at  the  close  of  life,  to  extreme 
poverty.*  His  secluded  habits  brought  on  him  the 
appalling  imputation  of  necromancy.  A  scene  took 
place  at  his  death,  in  1434,  which  is  sufficiently  char- 
acteristic of  the  age,  and  may  possibly  have  suggested 
a  similar  adventure  to  Cervantes.  The  king  commis- 
sioned his  son's  preceptor.  Brother  Lope  de  Barrientos, 
afterwards  bishop  of  Cuenca,  to  examine  the  valuable 
library  of  the  deceased ;  and  the  worthy  ecclesiastic 
consigned  more  than  a  hundred  volumes  of  it  to  the 
flames,  as  savoring  too  strongly  of  the  black  art.  The 
Bachelor  Cibdareal,  the  confidential  physician  of  John 
the  Second,  in  a  lively  letter  on  this  occurrence  to  the 
poet  John  de  Mena,  remarks  that  "some  wotji-l  fain 
get  the  reputation  of  saints  by  making  others  necro- 
mancers;" and  requests  his  friend  **to  allow  him  to 
solicit,  in  his  behalf,  some  of  the  surv  ving  volumes 
from  the  king,  that  in  this  way  tbe  soul  of  Brother 


19  See  an  abstract  of  it  in  Mayan:  y  Siscar,  Origenes  de  la  Lengua 
Espanola,  torn.  ii.  pp.  321  et  seq. 

20  Zurita,  Anales  de  la  Corona  de  Aragon,  torn.  iii.  p.  227.— Guzman, 
Generaciones,  cap.  28. 


Il6  REIGN.    OF  JOHN  II.  OF  CASTILE. 

Lope  might  be  saved  from  further  sin,  and  the  spirit 
of  the  defunct  marquis  consoled  by  the  consciousness 
that  his  books  no  longer  rested  on  the  shelves  of  the 
man  who  had  converted  him  into  a  conjurer.""  John 
de  Mena  denounces  this  auto  da  fe  of  science  in  a* 
similar,  but  graver,  tone  of  sarcasm,  in  his  "Labe- 
rinto. ' '  These  liberal  sentiments  in  the  Spanish  writers 
of  the  fifteenth  century  may  put  to  shame  the  more 
bigoted  criticism  of  the  seventeenth." 

Another  of  the  illustrious  wits  of  this  reign  was 
liiigo  Lopez  de  Mendoza,  marquis  of  Santillana,  "the 
glory  and  delight  of  the  Castilian  nobility,"  whose 
celebrity  was  such  that  foreigners,  it  was  said,  journeyed 
to  Spain  from  distant  parts  of  Europe  to  see  him. 
Although  passionately  devoted  to  letters,  he  did  not, 
like  his  friend  the  marquis  of  Villena,  neglect  his  public 
or  domestic  duties  for  them.  On  the  contrary,  he 
discharged  the  most  important  civil  and  military  func- 
tions. He  made  his  house  an  academy,  in  which  the 
young  cavaliers  of  the  court  might  practise  the  martial 
exercises  of  the  age;  and  he  assembled  around  him, 
at  the  same  time,  men  eminent  for  genius  and  science, 
whom  he  munificently  recompensed,  and  encouraged 


"»  Centon  epistolario,  epist.  66. — The  bishop  endeavored  to  transfer 
the  blame  of  the  conflagration  to  the  king.  There  can  be  little  doubt, 
however,  that  the  good  father  infused  the  suspicions  of  necromancy 
into  his  master's  bosom.  "  The  angels,"  he  says  in  one  of  his  works, 
"  who  guarded  Paradise,  presented  a  treatise  on  magic  to  one  of  the 
posterity  of  Adam,  from  a  copy  of  which  Villena  derived  his  science." 
(See  Juan  de  Mena,  Obras,  fol.  139,  glosa.)  One  would  think  that 
such  an  orthodo.x  source  might  have  justified  Villena  in  the  use  of  it. 

="  Comp.  Juan  de  Mena,  Obras,  copl.  127,  128  ;  and  Nic.  Antonio, 
Bibliotheca  Vetus,  torn.  ii.  p.  220. 


BIRTH  OF  ISABELLA. 


117 


by  his  example.  "3  His  own  taste  led  him  to  poetry,  of 
which  he  has  left  some  elaborate  specimens.  They  are 
chiefly  of  a  moral  and  preceptive  character;  but,  al- 
though replete  with  noble  sentiment,  and  finished  in  a 
style  of  literary  excellence  far  more  correct  than  that 
of  the  preceding  age,  they  are  too  much  infected  with 
mythology  and  metaphorical  affectations  to  suit  the 
palate  of  the  present  day.  He  possessed,  however, 
the  soul  of  a  poet,  and,  when  he  abandons  himself  to 
his  native  redondillas,  delivers  his  sentiments  with 
a  sweetness  and  grace  inimitable.  To  him  is  to  be 
ascribed  the  glory,  such  as  it  is,  of  having  naturalized 
the  Italian  sonnet  in  Castile,  which  Boscan,  many  years 
later,  claimed  for  himself  with  no  small  degree  of  self- 
congratulation."*  His  epistle  on  the  primitive  history 
of  Spanish  verse,  although  containing  notices  suffi- 
ciently curious  from  the  age  and  the  source  whence 
they  proceed,  has  perhaps  done  more  service  to  letters 
by  the  valuable  illustrations  it  has  called  forth  from  its 
learned  editor. ''s 

This  great  man,  who  found  so  much  leisure  for  the 
cultivation  of  letters  amidst  the  busy  strife  of  politics, 

=3  Pulgar,  Claros  Varones  de  Castilla,  y  Letras  (Madrid,  1755),  tit. 
4. — Nic.  Antonio,  Bibliotheca  Vetus,  lib.  10,  cap.  9. — Quincuagenas  de 
Gonzalo  de  Oviedo,  MS.,  batalla  i,  quinc.  i,  dial.  8. 

24  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  Obras,  ed.  de  Herrera  (1580),  pp.  75,  76. 
— Sanchez,  Poesias  Castellanas,  torn.  i.  p.  21. — Boscan,  Obras  (1543), 
fol.  19. — It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  the  attempt  was  prema- 
ture, and  that  it  required  a  riper  stage  of  the  language  to  give  a  per- 
manent character  to  the  innovation. 

=s  See  Sanchez,  Poesias  Castellanas,  torn.  i.  pp.  1-U9. — A  copious 
catalogue  of  the  marquis  de  Santillana's  writings  is  given  in  the  same 
volume  (pp.  33  et  seq.).  Several  of  his  poetical  pieces  are  collected 
in  the  Cancionero  general  (Anvers,  1573),  fol.  34  et  seq. 


!l       {■ 


!i  "I' 


il 


ill! 

,[.,1 


I 


1 18  REIGN  OF  JOHN  II.  OF  CASTILE. 

closed  his  career  at  the  age  of  sixty,  in  1458.  Though 
a  conspicuous  actor  in  the  revolutionary  scenes  of  the 
period,  he  maintained  a  character  for  honor  and  purity 
of  motive,  unimpeached  even  by  his  enemies.  The 
king,  notwithstanding  his  devotion  to  the  faction  of 
his  son  Henry,  conferred  on  him  the  dignities  of  count 
of  Real  de  Manzanares  and  marquis  of  Santillanaj 
this  being  the  oldest  creation  of  a  marquis  in  Castile, 
with  the  exception  of  Villena.'*  His  eldest  son  was 
subsequently  made  duke  of  Infantado,  by  which  title 
his  descendants  have  continued  to  be  distinguished  to 
the  present  day. 

But  the  most  conspicuous,  for  his  poetical  talents,  of 
the  brilliant  circle  which  graced  the  court  of  John  the 
Second,  was  John  de  Mena,  a  native  of  fair  Cordova, 
"  the  flower  of  science  and  of  chivalry,""'  as  he  fondly 
styles  her.  Although  born  in  a  middling  condition  of 
life,  with  humble  prospects,  he  was  early  smitten  with 
a  love  of  letters;  and,  after  passing  through  the  usual 
course  of  discipline  at  Salamanca,  he  repaired  to  Rome, 
where,  in  the  study  of  those  immortal  masters  whose 
writings  had  but  recently  revealed  the  full  capacities 
of  a  modern  idiom,  he  imbibed  principles  of  taste 
which  gave  a  direction  to  his  own  genius,  and,  in 
some  degree,  to  that  of  his  countrymen.     On  his  re- 

"6  Pulgar,  Claros  Varones,  tit.  4. — Salazar  de  Mendoza,  Monarquia, 
torn.  i.  p.  218. — Idem,  O  I'gen  delas  Dignidades  seglares  de  Castilla  y 
Leon  (Madrid,  1794),  P-  285. — Oviedo  makes  the  marquis  much  older, 
seventy-five  years  of  age,  when  he  died.  He  left,  besides  daughters, 
six  sons,  who  all  became  the  founders  of  noble  and  powerful  houses. 
See  the  whole  genealogy,  in  Oviedo,  Quincuagenas,  MS.,  bat.  i, 
quinc.  i,  dial.  8. 

*7  "  Flor  de  saber  y  caballeria."     El  Laberinto,  copla  114. 


BIRTrl  OF  ISABELLA. 


119 


turn  to  Spain,  his  literary  merit  soon  attracted  general 
admiration,  and  introduced  him  to  the  patronage  o' 
the  great,  and  above  all  to  the  friendship  of  the  mar- 
quis of  Santillana.''  He  was  admitted  into  the  private 
circle  of  the  monarch,  who,  as  his  gossiping  physician 
informs  us,  "  used  to  have  Mena's  verses  lying  on  his 
table,  as  constantly  as  his  prayer-book."  The  poet 
repaid  the  debt  of  gratitude  by  administering  a  due 
quantity  of  honeyed  rhyme,  for  which  the  royal  palate 
seems  to  have  possessed  a  more  than  ordinary  relish.'^ 
He  continued  faithful  to  his  master  amidst  all  the  fluc- 
tuations of  faction,  and  survived  him  less  than  two 
years.  He  died  in  1456;  and  his  friend  the  marquis 
of  Santillana  raised  a  sumptuous  monument  over  his 
remains,  in  commemoration  of  his  virtues  and  of  their 
mutual  aifection. 

John  de  Mena  is  affirmed  by  some  of  the  national 
critics  to  have  given  a  new  aspect  to  Castilian  poetry.** 
His  great  work  was  his  "Laberinto,"  the  outlines  of 
whose  plan  may  faintly  remind  us  of  that  portion  of 
the  **  Divina  Commedia"  where  Dante  resigns  himself 
to  the  guidance  of  Beatrice.  In  like  manner  the  Span- 
ish poet,  under  the  escort  of  a  beautiful  personification 
of  Providence,  witnesses  the  apparition  of  the  most 
eminent  individuals,  whether  of  history  or  fable ;  and, 
as  they  revolve  on  the  wheel  of  destiny,  they  give 
occasion  to  some  animated  portraiture,  and  much  dull, 
pedantic  disquisition.  In  these  de  -leations  we  now 
and  then  meet  with  a  touch  of  his  pencil,  which,  from 


=*  Nic.  Antonio,  Bibliotheca  Vetus,  torn.  ii.  pp.  265  et  seq. 
^  Cibdareal,  Centon  epistolario,  epist.  47,  49. 
30  See  Velazquez,  Poesfa  Castellana,  p.  49. 


I20  REIGN  OF  JOHN  If.  OF  CASTILE. 

its  simplicity  and  vigor,  may  be  called  truly  Dantesque. 
Indeed,  the  Castilian  Muse  never  before  ventured  on 
so  bold  a  flight ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  deformity 
of  the  general  plan,  the  obsolete  barbarisms  of  the 
phraseology,  its  quaintness  and  pedantry,  notwith- 
standing the  cantering  dactylic  measure  in  which  it  is 
composed,  and  which  to  the  ear  of  a  foreigner  can 
scarcely  be  made  tolerable,  the  work  abounds  in  con- 
ceptions, nay  in  whole  episodes,  of  such  mingled  energy 
and  beauty  as  indicate  genius  of  the  highest  order. 
In  some  of  his  smaller  pieces  his  style  assumes  a  grace- 
ful flexibility  too  generally  denied  to  his  more  strained 
and  elaborate  efforts.^* 

It  will  not  be  necessary  to  bring  under  review  the 
minor  luminaries  of  this  period.  Alfonso  de  Baena,  a 
converted  Jew,  secretary  of  John  the  Second,  compiled 
the  fugitive  pieces  of  more  than  fifty  of  these  ancient 
troubadours  into  a  cancionero^  "for  the  disport  and 
divertisement  of  his  highness  the  king,  when  he  should 
find  himself  too  sorely  oppressed  with  cares  of  state," 
— a  case  we  may  imagine  of  no  rare  occurrence.  The 
original  manuscript  of  Baena,  transcribed  in  beautiful 
characters  of  the  fifteenth  century,  lies,  or  did  lie  until 
very  lately,  unheeded  in  the  cemetery  of  the  Escurial, 
with  the  dust  of  many  a  better  worthy.  3=*    The  extracts 

31  A  collection  of  them  is  incorporated  in  the  Cancionero  general, 
fol.  41  et  seq. 

32  Castro,  Biblioteca  Espanola  (Madrid,  1781),  torn.  i.  pp.  266,  267. 
— This  interesting  document,  the  most  primitive  of  all  the  Spanish 
cancioneros,  notwithstanding  its  local  position  in  the  library  is  specified 
by  Castro  with  great  precision,  eluded  the  search  of  the  industrious 
translators  of  Bouterwek,  who  think  it  may  have  disappeared  during 
the  French  invasion.  Literatura  Espaiiola,  trad,  de  Cortina  y  Mol- 
linedo,  p.  205,  nota  Hh. 


ii;  u 


BIRTH  OF  ISABELLA. 


121 


selected  from  it  by  Castro,  although  occasionally  ex- 
hibiting some  fluent  graces  with  considerable  variety  of 
versification,  convey,  on  the  whole,  no  very  high  idea 
of  taste  or  poetic  talent.^ 

Indeedj  *'":is  epoch,  as  befo'S  remarked,  was  not  so 
much  disting  shed  by  uncommon  displays  of  genius, 
as  by  its  general  intellectual  movement,  and  the  en- 
thusiasm kindled  for  liberal  studies.  Thus  we  find  the 
corporation  of  Seville  granting  a  hundred  doblas  of 
gold  as  the  guerdon  of  a  poet  who  had  celebrated  in 
some  score  of  verses  the  glories  of  their  native  city, 
and  appropriating  the  same  sum  as  an  annual  premium 
for  a  similar  performance.^  It  is  not  often  that  the 
productions  of  a  poet-laureate  have  been  more  liberally 
recompensed  even  by  royal  bounty.  But  the  gifted 
spirits  of  that  day  mistook  the  road  to  immortality. 
Disdaining  the  untutored  simplicity  of  their  predeces- 
sors, they  sought  to  rise  above  them  by  an  ostentation 
of  learning,  as  well  as  by  a  more  classical  idiom.  In 
the  latter  particular  they  succeeded.  They  much  im- 
proved the  external  forms  of  poetry,  and  their  com- 
positions exhibit  a  high  degree  of  literary  finish, 
compared  with  all  that  preceded  them.  But  their 
happiest  sentiments  are  frequently  involved   in  such 

33  Set  these  collected  in  Castro,  Biblioteca  Espanola,  torn.  ii.  p.  265 
et  seq. — The  veneration  entertained  for  the  poetic  art  in  that  day  may 
be  conceived  from  Baena's  whimsical  prologue.  "  Poetry,"  he  says, 
"  or  the  gay  science,  is  a  very  subtile  and  delightsome  composition. 
It  demands  in  him  who  would  hope  to  excel  in  it  a  curious  invention, 
a  sane  judgment,  a  various  scholarship,  familiarity  with  courts  and 
public  affairs,  high  birth  and  breeding,  a  temperate,  courteous,. and 
liberal  disposition,  and,  in  fine,  honey,  sugar,  salt,  freedom,  and  hilarity 
in  his  discourse."  p.  268. 

34  Castro,  Biblioteca  Espaiiola,  torn.  i.  p.  273. 

F 


;l    f 


122  REIGN  OF  JOHN  II.  OF  CASTILE. 


a  cloud  of  metaphor  as  to  become  nearly  unintel- 
ligible ;  while  they  invoke  the  pagan  deities  with  a 
shameless  prodigality  that  would  scandalize  even  a 
French  lyric.  This  cheap  display  of  schoolboy  erudi- 
tion, however  it  may  have  appalled  their  own  age,  has 
been  a  principal  cause  of  their  comparative  oblivion 
with  posterity.  How  far  superior  is  one  touch  of  na- 
ture, as  the  "Finojosa"  or  **Querella  de  Amor,"  for 
example,  of  the  marquis  of  Santillana,  to  all  this  farrago 
of  metaphor  and  mythology ! 

The  impulse  given  to  Castilian  poetry  extended  to 
other  departments  of  elegant  literature.  Epistolary  and 
historical  composition  were  cultivated  with  considerable 
success.  The  latter,  especially,  might  admit  of  advan- 
tageous comparison  with  that  of  any  othe-  country  in 
Europe  at  the  same  period  \^  ano  '-\  is  remarkable  that, 
after  such  early  promise,  the  modern  Spaniards  have  not 
been  more  successful  in  perfecting  a  classical  prose  style. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  give  an  idea  of  the  state 
of  mental  improvement  in  Castile  under   John   the 

3S  Perhaps  the  most  conspicuous  of  these  historical  compositions  for 
mere  literary  execution  is  the  Chronicle  of  Alvaro  de  Luna,  to  which 
I  have  had  occasion  to  refer,  edited  in  1784,  by  Flores,  the  diligent 
secretary  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  History.  He  justly  commends  it 
for  the  purity  and  harmony  of  its  diction.  The  loyalty  of  the  chroni- 
cler seduces  him  sometimes  into  a  swell  of  panegyric  which  may  be 
thought  to  savor  too  strongly  of  the  current  defect  of  Castilian  prose ; 
but  it  more  frequently  imparts  to  his  narrative  a  generous  glow  of 
sentiment,  raising  it  far  above  the  lifeless  details  of  ordinary  history, 
and  occasionally  even  to  positive  eloquence. — Nic.  Antonio,  in  the 
tenth  book  of  his  great  repository,  has  assembled  the  biographical  and 
bibliographical  notices  of  the  various  Spanish  authors  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  whose  labors  diffused  a  glimmering  of  light  over  their  own 
agt:,  which  has  become  faint  in  the  superior  illumination  of  the 
succeeding. 


BIRTH  OF  ISABELLA. 


"3 


of 


Second.  The  Muses,  who  had  found  a  shelter  in  his 
court  from  the  anarchy  which  reigned  abroad,  soon  fled 
from  its  polluted  precincts  under  the  reign  of  his  suc- 
cessor Henry  the  Fourth,  whose  sordid  appetites  were 
incapable  of  being  elevated  above  the  objects  of  the 
senses.  If  we  have  dwelt  somewhat  long  on  a  more 
pleasing  picture,  it  is  because  our  road  is  now  to  lead 
us  across  a  dreary  waste  exhibiting  scarcely  a  vestige 
of  civilization. 

While  a  small  portion  of  the  higher  orders  of  the 
nation  was  thus  endeavoring  to  forget  the  public  calami- 
ties in  the  tranquillizing  pursuit  of  letters,  and  a  much 
larger  portion  in  the  indulgence  of  pleasurej^*  the  pop- 
ular aversion  for  the  minister  Luna  had  been  gradually 
infusing  itself  into  the  royal  bosom.  His  too  obvious 
assumption  of  superiority,  even  over  the  monarch  who 
had  raised  him  from  the  dust,  was  probably  the  real 
though  secret  cause  of  this  disgust.  But  the  habitual 
ascendency  of  the  favorite  over  his  master  prevented 
the  latter  from  disclosing  this  feeling,  until  it  was 
heightened  by  an  occurrence  which  sets  in  a  strong 
light  the  imbecility  of  the  one  and  the  presumption  of 
the  other.  John,  on  the  death  of  his  wife,  Maria  of 
Aragon,  had  formed  the  design  of  connecting  himself 
with  a  daughter  of  the  king  of  France.  But  the  con- 
stable, in  the  mean  time,  without  even  the  privity  of 
his  master,  entered  into  negotiations  for  his  marriage 

36  Sempere,  in  his  Historia  del  Luxo  (torn.  i.  p.  177),  has  published 
an  extract  from  an  unprinted  manuscript  of  the  celebrated  marquis  of 
Villena,  entitled  Triunfo  de  las  Donas,  in  which,  adverting  to  the  petits- 
mattres  of  his  time,  he  recapitulates  the  fashionable  arts  employed  by 
them  for  the  embellishment  of  the  person,  with  a  degree  of  minuteness 
which  might  edify  a  modern  dandy. 


124  REIGN  OF  JOHN  II.   OF  CASTILE. 


with  the  princess  Isabella,  granddaughter  of  John  the 
First  of  Portugal ;  and  the  monarch,  with  an  unpre- 
cedented degree  of  complaisance,  acquiesced  in  an 
arrangement  professedly  repugnant  to  his  own  inclina- 
tions. ^^  By  one  of  those  dispensations  of  Providence, 
however,  which  often  confound  the  plans  of  the  wisest, 
as  of  the  weakest,  the  column  which  the  minister  had 
so  artfully  raised  for  his  support  served  only  to  crush 
him. 

The  new  queen,  disgusted  with  his  haughty  bearing, 
and  probably  not  much  gratified  with  the  subordinate 
situation  to  which  he  had  reduced  her  husband,  entered 
heartily  into  the  feelings  of  the  latter,  and  indeed  con- 
trived to  extinguish  whatever  spark  of  latent  affection 
for  his  ancient  favorite  lurked  within  his  breast.  John, 
yet  fearing  the  overgrown  power  of  the  constable  too 
much  to  encounter  him  openly,  condescended  to  adopt 
the  dastardly  policy  of  Tiberius  on  a  similar  occasion, 
by  caressing  the  man  whom  he  designed  to  ruin ;  and 
he  eventually  obtained  possession  of  his  person  only  by 
a  violation  of  the  royal  safe-conduct.  The  constable's 
trial  was  referred  to  a  commission  of  jurists  and  privy 
councillors,  who,  after  a  summary  and  informal  inves- 
tigation, pronounced  on  him  the  sentence  of  death  on 
a  specification  of  charges  either  general  and  indeter- 
minate, or  of  the  most  trivial  import.  "  If  the  king," 
says  Garibay,  "had  dispensed  similar  justice  to  all  his 
nobles  who  equally  deserved  it  in  those  turbulent  times, 
he  would  have  had  but  few  to  reign  over."^^ 

37  Cr6nica  de  Juan  II.,  p.  499. — Faria  y  Sousa,  Europa  Portuguesa 
(1679),  torn.  ii.  pp.  335,  372. 

38  Cr6nica  de  Alvaro  de  Luna,  tit.  128. — Cronica  de  Juan  II.,  pp. 


BIRTH  OF  ISABELLA. 


135 


The  constable  had  supported  his  disgrace,  from  the 
first,  with  an  equanimity  not  to  have  been  expected 
from  his  elation  in  prosperity ;  and  he  now  received 
the  tidings  of  his  fate  with  a  similar  fortitude.  As  he 
rode  along  the  streets  to  the  place  of  execution,  clad 
in  the  sable  livery  of  an  ordinary  criminal,  and  de- 
serted by  those  who  had  been  reared  by  his  bounty,  the 
populace,  who  before  called  so  loudly  for  his  disgrace, 
struck  with  this  astonishing  reverse  of  his  brilliant  for- 
tunes, were  melted  into  tears. ^^  They  called  to  mind 
the  numerous  instances  of  his  magnanimity.  They 
reflected  that  the  ambitious  schemes  of  his  rivals  had 
been  not  a  whit  less  selfish,  though  less  successful,  than 
his  own,  and  that,  if  his  cupidity  appeared  insatiable, 
he  had  dispensed  the  fruits  of  it  in  acts  of  princely 
munificence.  He  himself  maintained  a  serene  and 
even  cheerful  aspect.  Meeting  one  of  the  domestics 
of  Prince  Henry,  he  bade  him  request  the  prince  **  to 
reward  the  attachment  of  his  servants  with  a  different 
guerdon  from  what  his  master  had  assigned  to  him." 
As  he  ascended  the  scaffold,  he  surveyed  the  apparatus 
of  death  with  composure,  and  calmly  submitted  him- 
self to  the  stroke  of  the  executioner,  who,  in  the  savage 

457,  460,  572. — Abarca,  Reyes  de  Aragon,  torn.  ii.  fol.  227,  228. — 
Garibay,  Compendio  historial  de  las  Chronicas  de  Espana  (Barcelona, 
1628),  torn.  ii.  p.  493. 

39  Cronica  de  Alvaro  de  Luna,  tit.  128. — What  a  contrast  to  all  this 
is  afforded  by  the  vivid  portrait,  sketched  by  John  de  Mena,  of  the 
constable  in  the  noontide  of  his  glory ! 

"  Este  caualga  sobre  la  fortuna 
y  doma  su  cuello  con  asperas  riendas 
y  aunque  del  tenga  tan  muchas  de  prendas 
ella  non  le  osa  tocar  de  ninguna,"  etc. 
Laberinto,  coplas  235  et  seq. 


p 

i 

) 

1 
i 

''          :1 

i     ' 

• 

1 

I  ■' 

: 

126         REIGN  OF  JOHN  II.  OF  CASTILE. 

style  of  the  executions  of  that  day,  plunged  his  knife 
into  the  throat  of  his  victim,  and  deliberately  severed 
his  head  from  his  body.  A  basin,  for  the  reception  of 
alms  to  defray  the  expenses  of  his  interment,  was  placed 
at  one  extremity  of  the  scaffold ;  and  his  mutilated 
remains,  after  having  been  exposed  for  several  days  to 
the  gaze  of  the  populace,  were  removed,  by  the  brethren 
of  a  charitable  order,  to  a  place  called  the  hermitage 
of  St.  Andrew,  appropriated  as  the  cemetery  for 
malefactors.**  (1453.) 

Such  was  the  tragical  end  of  Alvaro  de  Luna, — a 
man  who  for  more  than  thirty  years  controlled  the 
counsels  of  the  sovereign,  or,  to  speak  more  properly, 
was  himself  the  sovereign,  of  Castile.  His  fate  fur- 
nishes one  of  the  most  memorable  lessons  in  history. 
It  was  not  lost  on  his  contemporaries ;  and  the  mar- 
quis of  Santillana  has  made  use  of  it  to  point  the  moral 
of  perhaps  the  most  pleasing  of  his  didactic  composi- 
tions.*'   John  did  not  long  survive  his  favorite's  death, 

40  Cibdareal,  Centon  epistolario,  ep.  103. — Cronica  de  Juan  II.,  p. 
564. — Cr6nica  de  Alvaro  de  Luna,  tit.  128,  and  Apend.  p.  458. 

4'  Entitled  "  Doctriniil  de  Privados."  See  the  Cancionero  general, 
fol.  37  et  seq. — In  the  following  stanza,  the  constable  is  made  to  moral- 
ize with  good  effect  on  the  instability  of  worldly  grandeur : 

"  Que  se  hizo  la  moneda 
que  guarde  para  mis  daiios 
tantos  tiempos  tantos  afios 
plata  joyas  oro  y  seda 
y  de  todo  no  me  queda 
sino  este  cadahalso ; 
mundo  inalo  mundo  falso 
no  ay  quien  contigo  pueda." 

Manrique  has  the  same  sentiments  in  his  exquisite  "  Coplas."  I 
give  Longfellow's  version,  as  spirited  as  it  is  literal : 


BIRTH   OF  ISABELLA. 


127 


which  he  was  seen  afterwards  to  lament  even  with 
tears.  Indeed,  during  the  whole  of  the  trial  he  had 
exhibited  the  most  pitiable  agitation,  having  twice 
issued  and  recalled  his  orders  countermanding  the 
constable's  execution ;  and,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
superior  constancy  or  vindictive  temper  of  the  queen, 
he  would  probably  have  yielded  to  these  impulses  of 
returning  affection.^' 

So  far  from  deriving  a  wholesome  warning  from 
experience,  John  confided  the  entire  direction  of  his 
kingdom  to  individuals  not  less  interested,  but  pos- 
sessed of  far  less  enlarged  capacities,  than  the  former 
minister.  Penetrated  with  remorse  at  the  retrospect 
of  his  unprofitable  life,  and  filled  with  melancholy 
presages  of  the  future,  the  unhappy  prince  lamented  to 
his  faithful  attendant  Cibdareal,  on  his  death-bed,  that 
"  he  had  not  been  born  the  son  of  a  mechanic,  instead 
of  king  of  Castile."  He  died  July  2ist,  1454,  after  a 
reign  of  eight-and-forty  years,  if  reign  it  may  be  called 
which  was  more  properly  one  protracted  minority. 


"  Spain's  haughty  Constable, — the  great 
And  gallant  Master, — cruel  fate 

Stripped  him  of  all. 
Breathe  not  a  whisper  of  his  pride ; 
He  on  the  gloomy  scaffold  died. 

Ignoble  fall  I 
The  countless  treasures  of  his  care, 
Hamlets  and  villas  green  and  fair. 

His  mighty  power, — 
What  were  they  all  but  grief  and  shame, 
Tears  and  a  broken  heart,  when  came 

The  parting  hour  ?" 

Stanza  31. 

<»  Cibdareal,  Centon  epistolario,  ep.  103. — Cronica  de  Alvaro  de 
Luna,  tit.  128. 


128         REIGN  OF  JOHN  II.  OF  CASTILE. 


John  left  one  child  by  his  first  wife,  Henry,  who  suc- 
ceeded him  on  the  throne ;  and  by  his  second  wife  two 
others,  Alfonso,  then  an  infant,  and  Isabella,  afterwards 
queen  of  Castile,  the  subject  of  the  present  narrative. 
She  had  scarcely  reached  her  fourth  year  at  the  time 
of  her  father's  decease,  having  been  born  on  the  2 2d 
of  April,  1451,  at  Madrigal.  The  king  recommended 
his  younger  children  to  the  especial  care  and  protection 
of  their  brother  Henry,  and  assigned  the  town  of  Cuellar, 
with  its  territory  and  a  considerable  sum  of  money,  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  Infanta  Isabella.'*^ 

43  Cr6nica  tie  Juan  II.,  p.  576. — Cibdareal,  Ccnton  cpistolario,  epi';t. 
105. — There  has  been  considerable  discrepancy,  even  among  contempo- 
rary writers,  both  as  to  the  place  and  the  epoch  of  Isabella's  birth, 
amounting,  as  regards  the  latter,  to  nearly  two  years.  I  have  adopted 
the  conclusion  of  Seizor  Clemencin,  formed  from  a  careful  collation 
of  the  various  authorities,  in  the  sixth  volume  of  the  Memorias  de  la 
Real  Academia  de  Historia  (Madrid,  1821),  Ilust.  i,  pp.  56-60.  Isa- 
bella was  descended  both  on  the  father's  and  mother's  side  from  the 
famous  John  of  Gaunt,  duke  of  Lancaster.  See  Florez,  Memorias  de 
las  Reynas  Cath61icas  (2d  ed.  Madrid,  1770),  torn.  ii.  pp.  743,  787. 


CHAPTER   II. 

CONDITION  OF  ARAGON  DURING  THE  MINORITY  OF  FERDI- 
NAND.— REIGN  OF  JOHN  II.   OF  ARAGON. 

1452-1472. 


John  of  Aragon. — Difficulties  with  his  Son  Carlos. — Birth  of  Ferdi- 
nand.— Insurrection  of  Catalonia. — Death  of  Carlos. — His  C'har- 
.icter. — Tragical  Story  of  Blanche. — Young  Ferdinand  besieged  by 
the  Catalans. — Treaty  between  France  and  Aragon. — Distress  and 
Embarrassments  of  John, — Siege  and  Surrender  of  Barcelona. 

We  must  now  transport  the  reader  to  Aragon,  in 
order  to  take  a  view  of  the  extraordinary  circumstances 
which  opened  the  way  for  Ferdinand's  succession  in 
that  kingdom.  The  throne,  which  had  become  vacant 
by  the  death  of  Martin,  in  1410,  was  awarded,  by  the 
committee  of  judges  to  whom  the  nation  had  referred 
the  great  question  of  the  succession,  to  Ferdinand, 
regent  of  Castile  during  the  minority  of  his  nephew, 
John  the  Second;  and  thus  the  sceptre,  after  having 
for  more  than  two  centuries  descended  in  the  family 
of  Barcelona,  was  transferred  to  the  same  bastard 
branch  of  Trastamara  that  ruled  over  the  Castilian 
monarchy.'    Ferdinand  the  First  was  succeeded  after  a 

•  The  reader  who  may  be  curious  in  this  matter  will  find  the  pedi- 
gree exhibiting  the  titles  of  the  several  competitors  to  the  crown  given 
by  Mr.  Hallam.    (State  of  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages  (2d  ed. 
Vol.  I.— 9  F»  (129) 

\ 


il 


130  REIGN  OF  JOHN  II.  OF  A  RAG  ON. 

brief  reign  by  his  son  Alfonso  the  Fifth,  whose  per- 
sonal history  belongs  less  to  Aragon  than  to  Naples, 
which  kingdom  he  acquired  by  his  own  prowess,  and 
where  he  established  his  residence,  attracted,  no  doubt, 
by  the  superior  amenity  of  the  climate  and  the  higher 
intellectual  culture  as  well  as  the  pliant  temper  of  the 
people,  far  more  grateful  to  the  monarch  than  the  sturdy 
independence  of  his  own  countrymen. 

During  his  long  absence,  the  government  of  his 
hereditary  domains  devolved  on  his  brother  John,  as 
his  lieutenant-general  in  Aragon."  This  prince  had 
married  Blanche,  wi  low  of  Martin,  king  of  Sicily,  and 
daughter  of  Charles  the  Third  of  Navarre.  By  her  he 
had  three  children :  Carlos,  prince  of  Viana  ',^  Blanche, 
married  to  a-nd  afterwards  repudiated  by  Henry  the 
Fourth  of  Castile;*  and  Eleanor,  who  espoused  a 
French  noble,  Gaston,  count  of  Foix.  On  the  demise 
of  the  elder  Blanche,  the  crown  of  Navarre  rightfully 
belonged  to  her  son,  the  prince  of  Viana,  conformably 
to  a  stipulation  in  her  marriage  contract,  that,  on  the 
event  of  her  death,  the  eldest  heir  male,  and,  in  default 

London,  1819),  vol.  ii.  p.  60,  note.)  The  claims  of  Ferdinand  were 
certainly  net  derived  from  the  usual  laws  of  descent. 

"  The  reader  of  Spanish  history  often  experiences  embarrassment 
from  the  identity  of  names  in  the  various  princes  of  the  Peninsula. 
Thus,  the  John  mentioned  in  the  text,  afterwards  John  II.,  might  be 
easily  confounded  with  his  namesake  and  contemporary,  John  II.  of 
Castile.  The  genealogical  table  at  the  beginning  of  this  History  will 
show  their  relationship  to  each  other. 

3  His  grandfather,  Charles  III.,  created  this  title  in  favor  of  Carlos, 
appropriating  it  as  the  designation  henceforth  of  the  heir  apparent. 
Aleson,  Anales  del  Reyno  de  Navarra,  contin.  de  Moret  (Pamplona, 
1766),  tom.  iv.  p.  398. — Salazar  de  Mendoza,  Monarquia,  torn.  ii.  p 

331- 

4  See  Part  I.  chap.  3,  note  5,  of  this  History. 


MINORITY  OF  FERDINAND. 


131 


of  sons,  female,  should  inherit  the  kingdom  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  her  husband.*  (1442.)  This  provision,  which 
had  been  confirmed  by  her  father,  Charles  the  Third, 
in  his  testament,  was  also  recognized  in  her  own,  ac- 
companied, however,  with  a  request  that  her  son  Carlos, 
then  twenty-one  years  of  age,  would,  before  assuming 
the  sovereignty,  solicit  **  the  good  will  and  approbation 
of  his  father."*  Whether  this  approbation  was  with- 
held, or  whether  it  was  ever  solicited,  does  not  appear. 
It  seems  probable,  however,  that  Carlos,  perceiving  no 
disposition  in  his  father  to  relinquish  the  rank  and 
nominal  title  of  king  of  Navarre,  was  willing  he  should 
retain  them,  so  long  as  he  himself  should  be  allowed  to 
exercise  the  actual  rights  of  sovereignty ;  which  indeed 
he  did,  as  lieutenant-general  or  governor  of  the  king- 
dom, at  the  time  of  his  mother's  decease,  and  for  some 
years  after.' 

In  1447,  John  of  Aragon  contracted  a  second  alliance, 
with  Joan  Henriquez,  of  the  blood  royal  of  Castile,  and 
daughter  of  Don  Frederick  Henriquez,  admiral  of  that 
kingdom  J*  a  woman  considerably  younger  than  him- 
self, of  consummate  address,  intrepid  spirit,  and  un- 
principled ambition.     Some   years  after  this  union, 

S  This  fact,  vaguely  and  variously  reported  by  Spanish  writers,  is 
fully  established  by  Aleson,  who  cites  the  original  instrument,  con- 
tained in  the  archives  of  the  counts  of  Lerin.  Anales  de  Navarra,  torn, 
iv.  pp.  354,  365. 

*  See  the  reference  to  the  original  document  in  Aleson  (torn.  iv.  pp. 
365,  366).  This  industrious  writer  has  established  the  title  of  Prince 
Carlos  to  Navarre,  so  frequently  misunderstood  or  misrepresented  by 
the  national  historians,  on  an  incontestable  basis. 

7  Ibid.,  torn.  iv.  p.  467. 

*  See  F  irt  I.  chap.  3,  of  this  work. 


r 


'I        :'"h: 


132  REIGN  OF  JOHN  I  J.  CF  ARAGON. 

John  sent  his  wife  into  Navarre,  with  authority  to 
divide  with  his  son  Carlos  the  administration  of  the 
government  there.  This  encroachment  on  his  rights, 
for  such  Carlos  reasonably  deemed  it,  was  not  mitigated 
by  the  deportment  of  the  young  queen,  who  displayed 
all  the  insolence  of  sudden  elevation,  and  who  from 
the  first  seems  to  have  regarded  the  prince  with  the 
malevolent  eye  of  a  stepmother. 

Navarre  was  at  that  time  divided  by  two  potent  fac- 
tions, styled,  from  their  ancient  leaders,  Beaumonts 
and  Agramonts ;  whose  hostility,  originating  in  a  per- 
sonal feud,  had  continued  long  after  its  original  cause 
had  become  extinct. »  The  prince  of  Viana  was  inti- 
mately connected  with  some  of  the  principal  partisans 
of  the  Beaumont  faction,  who  heightened  by  their  sug- 
gestions the  indignation  to  which  his  naturally  gentle 
temper  had  been  roused  by  the  usurpation  of  Joan,  and 
who  even  called  on  him  to  assume  openly,  and  in  defi- 
ance of  his  father,  the  sovereignty  which  of  right  be- 
longed to  him.  The  emissaries  of  Castile,  too,  eagerly 
seized  this  occasion  of  retaliating  on  John  his  inter- 
ference in  the  domestic  concerns  of  that  monarchy,  by 
fanning  the  spark  of  discord  into  a  flame.  The  Agra- 
monts, on  the  other  hand,  induced  rather  by  hostility 
to  their  political  adversaries  than  to  the  prince  of  Viana, 
vehemently  espoused  the  cause  of  the  queen.  In  this 
revival  of  half-buried  animosities,  fresh  causes  of  dis- 
gust were  multiplied,  and  matters  soon  came  to  the 

9  Gaillard  errs  in  referring  the  origin  of  these  factions  to  this  epoch. 
(Histoire  de  la  Rivahte  de  France  et  de  I'Espagne  (Paris,  1801),  torn, 
iii.  p.  227.)  Aleson  quotes  a  proclamation  of  John  in  relation  to 
them  in  the  lifetime  of  Queen  Blanche.  Anales  de  Navarra,  torn, 
iv.  p.  494. 


MINORITY  OF  FERDINAND. 


133 


worst  extremity.  The  queen,  who  had  retired  to  Es- 
tella,  was  besieged  there  by  the  forces  of  the  prince. 
The  king,  her  husband,  on  receiving  intelligence  of  this, 
instantly  marched  to  her  relief;  and  the  father  and  son 
confronted  each  other  at  the  head  of  their  respective 
armies  near  the  town  of  Ay  bar. '° 

The  unnatural  position  in  which  they  thus  found 
themselves  seems  to  have  sobered  their  minds,  and  to 
have  opened  the  way  to  an  accommodation,  the  terms 
of  which  were  actually  arranged,  when  the  long-smoth- 
ered rancor  of  the  ancient  factions  of  Navarre  thus 
brought  in  martial  array  against  each  other,  refusing  all 
control,  precipitated  them  into  an  engagement.  The 
royal  forces  were  inferior  in  number,  but  superior  in 
discipline,  to  those  of  the  prince,  who,  after  a  well- 
contested  action,  saw  his  own  party  entirely  discomfited, 
and  h  imself  a  prisoner. "   ( 1 45  2  ) . 

Some  months  before  this  event.  Queen  Joan  had  been 
delivered  of  a  son,  afterwards  so  famous  as  Ferdinand 
the  Catholic, — whose  humble  prospects  at  the  time  of 
his  birth,  as  a  younger  brother,  afforded  j  sirikfng  con- 
trast with  the  splendid  destiny  which  eventually  awaitf  fl 
him.  This  auspicious  event  occurred  in  th:  little  town 
of  Sos,  in  Aragon,  on  the  loth  of  Man  \\,  "452,  and, 
as  it  was  nearly  contemporary  with  the  capture  A  Con- 
stantinople, is  regarded  by  Garibay  to  have  been  provi- 
so Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iil.  fol.  278. — Lucio  Marineo  Siculo,  Co- 
ronista  de  sus  Magestades,  Las  Cosas  memorables  de  Espana  (Alcald 
dc  Henares,  1539),  fol.  104. — Aleson,  Anales  de  Navarra,  torn.  iv.  pp 
494-498. 

II  y\barca,  Reyes  de  Aragon,  torn.  ii.  fol.  223. — Aleson,  Anales  de 
Navarra,  torn.  iv.  pp.  501-503. — L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol. 


'34 


REIGN  OF  JOHN  II.  OF  A  RAG  ON. 


Ir.      -t       I 


dentially  assigned  to  this  period,  as  affording,  in  a 
religious  view,  an  ample  counterpoise  to  the  loss  of  the 
capital  of  Christendom." 

The  demonstrations  of  satisfaction  exhibited  by  John 
and  his  court  on  this  occasion  contrasted  strangely  with 
the  stern  severity  with  which  he  continued  to  visit  the 
offences  of  his  elder  offspring.  It  was  not  till  after 
many  months  of  captivity  that  the  king,  in  deference 
to  public  opinion  rather  than  the  movements  of  his 
own  heart,  was  induced  to  release  his  son,  on  condi- 
tions, however,  so  illiL..al  (his  indisputable  claim  to 
Navarre  not  being  even  touched  upon)  as  to  afford  no 
reasonable  basis  of  reconciliation.  The  young  prince 
accordingly,  on  his  return  to  Navarre,  became  again 
involved  in  the  factions  which  desolated  that  un- 
happy kingdom,  and,  after  an  ineffectual  struggle  against 
his  enemies,  resolved  to  seek  an  asylum  at  the  court 
of  his  uncle  Alfonso  the  Fifth  of  Naples,  and  to  refer 

''  Compendio,  torn.  iii.  p.  419. — L.  Marineo  describes  the  heavens 
as  uncommonly  serene  at  the  moment  of  Ferdinand's  birth.  "  The 
sun,  which  had  been  obscured  with  clouds  during  the  whole  day,  sud- 
denly broke  forth  with  unwonted  splendor.  A  crown  was  also  beheld 
in  the  sky,  composed  of  various  brilliant  colors  like  those  of  a  rainbow. 
All  which  appearances  were  interpreted  by  the  spectators  as  an  omen 
that  the  child  then  bom  would  be  the  most  illustrious  among  men." 
(Cosas  memorables,  fol.  153.)  Garibay  postpones  the  nativity  of  Fer- 
dinand to  the  year  1453,  and  L.  Marineo,  who  ascertains  with  curious 
precision  even  the  date  of  his  conception,  fixes  his  birth  in  1450  (fol. 
153).  But  Alonso  de  Palencia  in  his  History  (Verdadera  Coronica  de 
Don  Enrique  IV.,  Rei  de  Castilla  y  Leon,  y  del  Rei  Don  Alonso  su 
Hermano,  MS.),  and  Andres  Bemaldez,  Cura  de  Los  Palacios  (His- 
toria  de  los  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS.,  c.  8),  both  of  them  contemporaries, 
refer  this  event  to  the  period  assigned  in  the  text ;  and,  as  the  same 
epoch  is  adopted  by  the  accurate  Zurita  (Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  9),  I 
have  given  it  the  preference. 


MINORITY  OF  FERDINAND. 


135 


tc  him  the  final  arbitration  of  his  differences  with  his 
father. '3 

On  his  passage  through  France  and  the  various  courts 
of  Italy,  he  was  received  with  the  attentions  due  to  his 
rank,  and  still  more  to  his  personal  character  and  mis- 
fortunes. Nor  was  he  disappointed  in  the  sympathy 
and  favorable  reception  which  he  had  anticipated  from 
his  uncle.  Assured  of  protection  from  so  high  a  quarter, 
Carlos  might  now  reasonably  flatter  himself  with  the 
restitution  of  his  legitimate  rights,  when  these  bright 
prospects  were  suddenly  overcast  by  the  death  of 
Alfonso,  who  expired  at  Naples  of  a  fever  in  the  month 
of  May,  1458,  bequeathing  his  hereditary  dominions  of 
Spain,  Sicily,  and  Sardinia  to  his  brother  John,  and 
his  kingdom  of  Naples  to  his  illegitimate  son  Ferdi- 
nand.''* 

The  frank  and  courteous  manners  of  Carlos  had  won 
so  powerfully  on  the  affections  of  the  Neapolitans,  who 
distrusted  the  dark,  ambiguous  character  of  Ferdinand, 
Alfonso's  heir,  that  a  large  party  eagerly  pressed  the 
prince  to  assert  his  title  to  the  vacant  throne,  assuring 
him  of  a  gctieral  support  from  the  people.  But  Carlos, 
from  motives  of  prudence  or  magnanimityj  declined 
engaging  in  this  new  contest, '^  and  passed   over  to 


'3  Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  tol.  3-48. — Aleson,  Anales  de  Navarra,  torn, 
iv.  pp.  508-526. — L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  105. 

'4  Giannone,  Istoria  civile  del  Regno  di  Napoli  (Milano,  1823),  lib. 
26,  c.  7. — Ferreras,  Histoire  generale  d'Espagne,  trad,  par  D'Hermilly 
(Paris,  1751),  torn.  vii.  p.  60. — L' Histoire  dv.  Royaume  de  Navarre, 
par  I'un  des  Secretaires-Interprettes  de  sa  Majeste  (Paris,  1596), 
p.  468. 

'S  Compare  ilie  narrative  of  the  Neapolitan  historians  Summon*? 
(Historia  della  Citt^e  Regno  di  Napoli  (Nnnoli,  1675),  lib.  5,c.  2)  and 


I  !ii 


If  i' 


136 


REIGN  OF  JOHN  II.  OF  A  RAG  ON. 


t  ' 


i  ;; 


■■».  ■ 

1:, 


( 


Sicily,  whence  he  resolved  to  solicit  a  final  reconcilia- 
tion with  his  father.  He  was  received  with  much  kind- 
ness by  the  Sicilians,  who,  preserving  a  grateful  recol- 
lection of  the  beneficent  sway  of  his  mother,  Blanche, 
when  queen  of  that  island,  readily  transferred  to  the 
son  their  ancient  attachment  to  the  parent.  An  assembly 
of  the  states  voted  a  liberal  supply  for  his  present  exi- 
gencies, and  even  urged  him,  if  we  are  to  credit  the 
Catalan  ambassador  at  the  court  of  Castile,  to  assume 
the  sovereignty  of  the  island.'*  Carlos,  however,  far 
from  entertaining  so  rash  an  ambition,  seems  to  have 
been  willing  to  seclude  himself  from  public  observation. 
He  passed  the  greater  portion  of  his  time  at  a  convent 
of  Benedictine  friars  not  far  iVom  Messina,  where,  in 
the  society  of  learned  men,  Jtnd  with  the  facilities  of  an 
extensive  library,  he  endeavored  to  recall  the  happier 
hours  of  youth  in  the  pursuit  of  his  favorite  studies  of 
philosophy  and  history.'' 

In  the  mean  while,  John,  now  king  of  Aragon  and  its 
dependencies,  alarmed  by  the  reports  of  his  son's  popu- 
larity in  Sicily,  became  as  solicitous  for  the  security  of 

Giannone  (Istoria  civile,  lib.  26,  c.  7, — lib.  27,  Introd.)  with  the  oppo- 
tite  statemen'ia  of  L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorabies  (fol.  106),  himself  a 
contempo' ary,  Aleson  (Anales  de  Navarra,  torn.  iv.  p.  546),  and  other 
Spanish  writers. 

16  Eiiriquez  del  Castillo,  Cronica  de  Enrique  el  Quarto  (Madrid, 
1787),  cap.  43. 

I?  Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iV.  fol.  97. — Nic.  AMtonio,  Bibliotheca  Vetus, 
torn.  ii.  p.  282. — L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memoraMes,  fol.  106. — Abarca, 
Reyes  de  Aragon,  torn.  i'.  fol.  250. — Carlos  bargain^'-'  with  Pope  Pius 
II.  for  a  transfer  of  this  library,  particularly  rich  in  the  ancient  classics,  to 
Spain,  which  was  eventually  defeated  by  his  death.  Zurita,  who  visited 
the  monastery  containing  it  nearly  a  century  after  this  period,  found  its 
inmates  possessed  of  many  traditionary  anecdotes  respecting  the  prince 
during  his  seclusion  among  them. 


MINORITY  OF  FERDINAND, 


137 


of 


5.  to 

ited 

its 

ince 


his  authority  there  as  he  had  before  been  for  it  in  Na- 
varre. He  accordingly  sought  to  soothe  the  mind  of  the 
prince  by  the  fairest  professions,  and  to  allure  him  back 
to  Spain  by  the  prospect  of  an  effectual  reconciliation. 
Carlos,  believing  what  he  most  earnestly  wished,  in 
opposition  to  the  advice  of  his  Sicilian  counsellors, 
embarked  for  Majorca,  and,  after  some  preliminary 
negotiations,  crossed  over  to  the  coast  of  Barcelona. 
Postponing,  for  fear  of  giving  offence  to  his  father, 
his  entrance  into  that  city,  which,  indignant  at  his 
persecution,  had  made  the  most  brilliant  preparations 
for  his  reception,  he  proceeded  to  Igualada,  where  an 
interview  took  place  between  him  and  the  king  and 
queen,  in  which  he  conducted  himself  with  unfeigned 
humility  and  penitence,  reciprocated  on  their  part  by 
the  most  consummate  dissimulation.'^ 

All  parties  now  confided  in  the  stability  of  a  pacifi- 
cation so  anxiously  desired,  and  effected  with  such 
apparent  cordiality.  It  was  expected  that  John  would 
hasten  to  acknowlevlge  his  son's  title  as  heir  apparent 
to  the  crown  of  Aragon,  and  convene  an  assembly  of 
the  states  to  tender  him  the  customary  oath  of  alle- 
giance. But  nothing  was  further  from  the  monarch's 
intention.  He  indeed  summoned  the  Aragonese  cortes 
at  Fraga  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  their  homage  to 
himself;  but  he  expressly  refused  their  request  touch- 
ing a  similar  ceremony  to  the  prince  of  Viana;  and  he 
openly  rebuked  the  Catalans  for  presuming  to  address 
him  as  the  successor  to  the  crown.''  (1460.) 

'8  Aleson,  Anales  de  Navarra,  torn.  iv.  pp.  548-554. — Abarca,  Reyes 
de  Aragon,  torn.  ii.  fol.  251. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  60-69. 

'9  Abarca,  Reyes  de  Aragon,  ubi  supra. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol. 
70-75. — Aleson,  Anales  de  Navarra,  tom.  iv.  p.  556.         *• 


V 


138 


REIGN  OF  JOHN  11.  OF  A  RAG  ON. 


i-iit  r- 


In  this  unnatural  procedure  it  was  easy  to  discern 
the  influence  of  the  queen.  In  addition  to  her  ori- 
ginal causes  of  aversion  to  Carlos,  she  regarded  him 
with  hatred  as  the  insuperable  obstacle  to  her  own 
child  Ferdinand's  advancement.  Even  the  affection 
of  John  seemed  to  be  now  wholly  transferred  from 
the  offspring  of  his  first  to  that  of  his  second  mar- 
riage; and,  as  the  queen's  influence  over  him  was 
unbounded,  she  found  it  easy  by  artful  suggestions  to 
put  a  dark  construction  on  every  action  of  Carlos, 
and  to  close  up  every  avenue  of  returning  affection 
within  his  boj;om. 

Convinced  at  length  of  the  hopeless  alienation  of  his 
father,  the  prince  of  Viana  turned  his  attention  to  other 
quarters,  whence  he  might  obtain  support,  pnd  eagerly 
entered  into  a  negotiation,  which  had  been  opened  with 
him  on  the  part  of  Henry  the  Fourth  of  Castile,  for  a 
union  with  his  sister  the  princess  Isabella.  This  was 
coming  in  direct  collision  with  the  favorite  scheme  of 
his  parents.  The  marriage  of  Isabella  with  the  young 
Ferdinand,  which  indeed,  from  the  parity  of  tlieir  ages, 
was  a  much  more  suitable  connection  than  that  with 
Carlos,  had  long  been  the  darling  object  of  their  policy, 
and  they  resolved  to  effect  it  in  the  face  of  every  ob- 
stacle. In  conformity  with  this  purpose,  John  invited 
the  prince  of  Viana  to  attend  him  at  Lerida,  where  he 
was  then  holding  the  cortes  of  Catalonia.  The  latter, 
fondly,  and  indeed  foolishly,  after  his  manifold  expe- 
rience to  the  contrary,  confiding  in  the  relenting  dis- 
position of  his  father,  hastened  to  obey  the  summons, 
in  expectation  of  being  publicly  acknowledged  as  his 
heir  in  the  assembly  of  the  states.     After  a  brief  inter- 


1" 


MINORITY  OF  FERDINAND. 


139 


T 


> 


view  he  was  arrested,  and  his  person  placed  in  strict 
confinement." 

The  intelligence  of  this  perfidious  procedure  diffused 
general  consternation  among  all  classes.  They  under- 
stood too  well  the  artifices  of  the  queen  and  the  vin- 
dictive temper  of  the  king,  not  to  feel  the  most  serious 
apprehensions  not  only  for  the  liberty  but  for  the  life 
of  their  prisoner.  The  cortes  of  Lerida,  which,  though 
dissolved  on  that  very  day,  had  not  yet  separated,  sent 
an  embassy  to  John,  requesting  to  know  the  nature  of 
the  crimes  imputed  to  his  son.  The  permanent  depu- 
tation of  Aragon,  and  a  delegation  from  the  council 
of  Barcelona,  waited  on  him  for  a  similar  purpose, 
remonstrating  at  the  same  time  against  any  violent  and 
unconstitutional  proceeding.  To  all  these  John  re- 
turned a  cold,  evasive  answer,  darkly  intimating  a 
suspicion  of  conspiracy  by  his  son  against  his  life,  and 
reserving  to  himself  the  punishment  of  the  offence." 

No  sooner  was  the  result  of  their  mission  communi- 
cated, than  the  whole  kingdom  was  thrown  into  a  fer- 
ment. The  high-spirited  Catalans  rose  in  arms,  almost 
to  a  man.  The  royal  governor,  after  a  fruitless  attempt 
to  escape,  was  seized  and  imprisoned  in  Barcelona. 
Troops  were  levied,  and  placed  under  the  command 
of  experienced  officers  of  the  highest  rank.  The  heated 
populace,  outstripping  the  tardy  movement  of  military 
operations,  marched   forward   to   Lerida  in  order  to 

"°  L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  Ibl.  108. — Zurita,  Anales,  lib.  17, 
cap.  3. — Aleson,  Anales  de  Navarra,  torn.  iv.  pp.  556,  557. — Castillo, 
Cronica,  cap.  27. 

^^  L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  108,  109. — Abarca,  Reyes  dc 
Aragon,  torn.  ii.  fol.  252. — Zurita,  Anales,  lib.  17,  cap.  45. — Aleson, 
Anales  de  Navarra,  torn.  ii.  p.  357. 


I40  REIGN  OF  JOHN  II.  OF  AKAGOiV. 

got  possession  of  the  royal  person.  The  king,  who  had 
seasonable  notice  of  this,  displayed  his  wonted  presence 
of  mind.  He  ordered  supper  to  be  prepared  for  him  at 
the  usual  hour,  but,  on  the  approach  of  night,  made  his 
escape  on  horseback  with  one  or  two  attendants  only,  on 
the  road  to  Fraga,  a  town  within  the  territory  of  Aragon ; 
while  the  mob,  traversing  the  streets  of  Lerida,  and  find- 
ing little  resistance  at  the  gate,  burst  into  the  palace  and 
ransacked  every  corner  oi  it,  piercing,  in  their  fury,  even 
the  curtains  and  beds  wit^i  their  swords  and  lances." 

The  Catalan  army,  ascertaining  the  route  of  the 
royal  fugitive,  marched  directly  on  Fraga,  and  arrived 
so  promptly  that  John,  with  his  wife,  and  the  deputies 
of  the  Aragonese  cortes  assembled  there,  had  barely 
time  to  make  their  escape  on  the  road  to  Saragossa, 
while  the  insurgents  poured  into  the  city  from  the 
opposite  qua'  ter.  The  person  of  Carlos,  in  the  mean 
time,  was  secured  in  the  inaccessible  fortress  of  Morella, 
situated  in  a  mountainous  district  on  the  confines  of 
Valencia.  John,  on  halting  at  Saragossa,  endeavored 
to  assemble  an  Aragonese  force  capable  of  resisting  the 
Catalan  rebels.  But  the  flame  of  insurrection  had 
spread  throughout  Aragon,  Valencia,  and  Navarre,  and 
was  speedily  communicated  to  his  transmarine  posses- 
sions of  Sardinia  and  Sicily.  The  king  of  Castile  sup- 
ported Carlos  at  the  same  time  by  an  irruption  into 
Navarre ;  and  his  partisans,  the  Beaumonts,  co-operated 
with  these  movements  by  a  descent  on  Aragon. ''^ 

»  Aleson,  Anales  de  Navarra,  torn.  ii.  p.  358. — Zurita,  Anales,  lib. 
17,  cap.  6. — Abarca,  Reyes  de  Aragon,  torn.  ii.  fol.  253. — L.  Marineo, 
Cosas  memorables,  fol.  iii. 

23  Zurita,  Anales,  lib.  17,  cap.  6. — L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables, 
fol.  Ill, 


MINORITY  OF  FERDINAND. 


MI 


John,  alarmed  at  the  tempest  which  his  precipitate 
conduct  had  aroused,  at  length  saw  the  necessity  of  re- 
leasing his  prisoner ;  and,  as  the  queen  had  incurred 
general  odium  as  the  chief  instigator  of  his  persecution, 
he  affected  to  do  this  in  consequence  of  her  interposi- 
tion. As  Carlos  with  his  mother-in-law  traversed  the 
country  on  their  way  to  Barcelona,  he  w,  everywhere 
greeted,  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  vill;  thronging 
out  to  meet  him,  with  the  most  touching  enthusiasm. 
The  queen,  however,  having  been  informed  by  the 
magistrates  that  her  presence  would  not  be  permitted 
in  the  capital,  deemed  it  prudent  to  remain  at  Villa 
Franca,  about  twenty  miles  distant ;  while  the  prince, 
entering  Barcelona,  was  welcomed  with  the  triumphant 
acclamations  due  to  a  conqueror  returning  from  a  cam- 
paign of  victories.  "♦ 

The  conditions  on  which  the  Catalans  proposed  to 
resume  their  allegiance  to  their  sovereign  were  suffi- 
ciently humiliating.  They  insisted  not  only  on  his 
public  acknowledgment  of  Carlos  as  his  rightful  heir 
and  successor,  with  the  office,  conferred  on  him  for 
life,  of  lieutenant-general  of  Catalonia,  but  on  an  obli- 
gation on  his  own  part  that  he  would  never  enter  the 
province  without  their  express  permission.  Such  was 
John's  extremity  that  he  not  only  accepted  these 
unpalatable  conditions,  but  did  it  with  affected  cheer- 
fulness. 

=4  Castillo,  Cronica,  cap.  28. — Abarca,  Reyes  de  Aragon,  fol.  253, 
254. — L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  iii,  112. — Aleson,  Anales 
de  Navarra,  torn.  iv.  pp.  559,  560. — The  inhabitants  of  Tarraca  closed 
their  gates  upon  the  queen,  and  rung  the  bells  on  her  approach,  the 
signal  of  alarm  on  the  appearance  of  an  enemy  or  for  the  pursuit  of  a 
malefactor. 


8si 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


1.0 


1.1 


11.25 


UilM    |25 


■  2.2 
iii 


2.0 


■lUU 


Photographic 

Sciences 

CorpQration 


23  WIST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14SM 

(716)S72-4S03 


142  REIGN  OF  JOHN  II.  OF  ARAGON. 

Fortune  seemed  now  weary  of  persecution,  and 
Carlos,  happy  in  the  attachment  of  a  brave  and  power- 
ful people,  appeared  at  length  to  have  reached  a  haven 
of  permanent  security.  But  at  this  crisis  he  fell  ill  of 
a  fever,  or,  as  some  historians  insinuate,  of  a  disorder 
occasioned  by  poison  administered  during  his  impris- 
onment,— a  fact  which,  although  unsupported  by  posi- 
tive evidence,  seems,  notwithstanding  its  atrocity,  to 
be  no  wise  improbable,  considering  the  character  of 
the  parties  implicated.  He  expired  on  the  23d  of  Sep- 
tember, 1 46 1,  in  the  forty-first  year  of  his  age,  be- 
queathing his  title  to  the  crown  of  Navarre,  in  con- 
formity with  the  original  marriage  contract  of  his 
parents,  to  his  sister  Blanche  and  her  posterity.^ 

Thus  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  at  the  moment  when 
he  seemed  to  have  triumphed  over  the  malice  of- his 
enemies,  died  the  prince  of  Viana,  whose  character, 
conspicuous  for  many  virtues,  has  become  still  more  so 
for  his  misfortunes.  His  first  act  of  rebellion,  if  such, 
considering  his  legitimate  pretensions  to  the  crown,  it 
can  be  called,  was  severely  requited  by  his  subsequent 
calamities ;  while  the  vindictive  and  persecuting  temper 
of  his  parents  excited  a  very  general  commiseration  in 
his  behalf,  and  brought  him  more  effectual  support  than 
could  have  been  derived  from  his  own  merits  or  the 
justice  of  his  cause. 

The  character  of  Don  Carlos  has  been  portrayed  by 
Lucio  Marineo,  who,  as  he  wrote  an  account  of  these 
transactions  by  the  command  of  Ferdinand  the  Catholic, 

"S  Alonso  de  Palencia,  Cor6nica,  MS.,  part,  a,  cap.  51. — L.  Marineo, 
Cosas  memorables,  fol.  114. — Aleson,  Anales  de  Navarra,  torn.  iv.  pp. 
561-563. — Zurita,  Anales,  cap.  19,  24. 


MINORITY  OF  FERDINAND. 


M3 


cannot  be  suspected  of  any  undue  partiality  in  favor  of 
the  prince  of  Viana.  **Such,"  says  he,  "were  his 
temperance  and  moderation,  such  the  excellence  of  his 
breeding,  the  purity  of  his  life,  his  liberality  and  munifi- 
cence, and  such  the  sweetness  of  his  demeanor,  that  no 
one  thing  seemed  to  be  wanting  in  him  which  belongs 
to  a  true  and  perfect  prince."*"  He  is  described  by 
another  contemporary  as  "  in  person  somewhat  above 
the  middle  stature,  having  a  thin  visage,  with  a  serene 
and  modest  expression  of  countenance,  and  withal 
somewhat  inclined  to  melancholy.""'  He  was  a  con- 
siderable proficient  in  music,  painting,  and  several 
mechanic  arts.  He  frequently  amused  himself  with 
poetical  composition,  and  was  the  intimate  friend  of 
some  of  the  most  eminent  bards  of  his  time.  But  he 
was  above  all  devoted  to  the  study  of  philosophy  and 
history.  He  made  a  version  of  Aristotle's  Ethics  into 
the  vernacular,  which  was  first  printed,  nearly  fifty 
years  after  his  death,  at  Saragossa,  in  1509.  He  com- 
piled also  a  Chronicle  of  Navarre  from  the  earliest 
period  to  his  own  times,  which,  although  suffered  to 
remain  in  manuscript,  has  been  liberally  used  and  cited 
by  the  Spanish  antiquaries  Garibay,  Blancas,  and 
others.^    His  natural  taste  and  his  habits  fitted  him 

■*  L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  ibl.  106. — "  Por  quanto  era  la 
teinplan9a  y  niteura  de  aquel  principe ;  tan  grande  el  concierto  y  su 
crian9a  y  costumbres,  la  limpieza  de  su  vida,  su  liberalidad  y  magni- 
ficencia,  y  finalmente  su  dulce  conversacion,  que  ninguna  cosa  en  el 
faltava  de  aquellas  que  pertenescen  a  recta  vivir,  y  que  arman  el  ver- 
daderc'  y  perfecto  principe  y  seRor." 

>7  Guidisalvus  Garsias,  apud  Nic.  Antonio,  Bibliotheca  Vetus,  torn, 
ii.  p.  281. 

*  Nic.  Antonio,  Bibliotheca  Vetus,  torn.  ii.  pp.  23 1,  282. — Mariana, 
Hist,  de  Espafia,  torn.  ii.  p.  434. 


144  REIGN  OF  JOHN  II.  OF  A  RAG  ON. 


>  much  better  for  the  quiet  enjoyment  of  letters  than  for 
the  tumultuous  scenes  in  which  it  was  his  misfortune  to 
be  involved,  and  in  which  he  was  no  match  for  enemies 
grown  gray  in  the  field  and  in  the  intrigues  of  the 
cabinet.  But  if  his  devotion  to  learning,  so  rare  in 
hib  own  age,  and  so  very  rare  among  princes  in  any 
age,  was  unpropitious  to  his  success  on  the  busy  theatre 
on  which  he  was  engaged,  it  must  surely  elevate  his 
character  in  the  estimation  of  an  enlightened  pos- 
terity. 

The  tragedy  did  not  terminate  with  the  death  of 
Carlos.  His  sister  Blanche,  notwithstanding  the  inof- 
fensive gentleness  of  her  demeanor,  had  long  been  in- 
volved, by  her  adhesion  to  her  unfortunate  brother,  in 
a  similar  proscription  with  him.  The  succession  to 
Navarre  having  now  devolved  on  her,  she  became  ten- 
fold an  object  of  jealousy  both  to  her  father,  the  present 
possessor  of  that  kingdom,  and  to  her  sister  Eleanor, 
countess  of  Foix,  to  whom  the  reversion  of  it  had  been 
promised  by  John,  on  his  own  decease.  The  son  of 
this  lady,  Gaston  de  Foix,  had  lately  married  a  sister 
of  Louis  the  Eleventh  of  France ;  and,  in  a  treaty  sub- 
sequently contracted  between  that  monarch  and  the 
king  of  Aragon,  it  was  stipulated  that  Blanche  should 
be  delivered  into  the  custody  of  the  countess  of  Foix, 
as  surety  for  the  succession  of  the  latter,  and  of  her  pos- 
terity, to  the  crown  of  Navarre.  "9 

Conformably  to  this  provision,  John  endeavored  to 

»9  This  treaty  was  signed  at  Olit  in  Navarre,  April  12th,  1462. — 
Zurita,  Anales,  lib.  17,  cap.  38,  39. — Gaillard,  Rivalit^,  torn.  iii.  p.  235. 
— Gaillard  confounds  it  with  the  subsequent  one  made  in  the  month  of 
May,  near  the  town  of  Salvatierra  in  Beam. 


MINORITY  OF  FERDINAND. 


I4S 


persuade  the  princess  Blanche  to  accompany  him  into 
France,  under  the  pretext  of  forming  an  alliance  for 
her  with  Louis's  brother,  the  duke  of  Berri.  The  un- 
fortunate lady,  comprehending  too  well  her  father's 
real  purpose,  besought  him  with  the  most  piteous 
entreaties  not  to  deliver  her  into  the  hands  of  her  ene- 
mies; but,  closing  his  heart  against  all  natural  affection, 
he  caused  her  to  be  torn  from  her  residence  at  01  it,  in 
the  heart  of  her  own  dominions,  and  forcibly  trans- 
ported across  the  mountains  into  those  of  the  count  of 
Foix.  On  arriving  at  St.  Jean  Pied  de  Port,  a  little 
town  on  the  French  side  of  the  Pyrenees,  being  con- 
vinced that  she  had  nothing  further  to  hope  from  human 
succor,  she  made  a  formal  renunciation  of  her  right  to 
Navarre  in  favor  of  her  cousin  and  former  husband, 
Henry  the  Fourth  of  Castile,  who  had  uniformly  sup- 
ported the  cause  of  her  brother  Carlos.  Henry,  though 
debased  by  sensual  in  lulgence,  was  naturally  of  a  gentle 
disposition,  and  had  never  treated  her  personally  with 
unkindness.  In  a  letter  which  she  now  addressed  to 
him,  and  which,  says  a  Spanish  historian,  cannot  be 
read,  after  the  lapse  of  so  many  years,  without  affecting 
the  most  insensible  heart,**  she  reminded  him  of  the 
dawn  of  happiness  which  she  had  enjoyed  under  his 
protection,  of  his  early  engagements  to  her,  and  of  her 
subsequent  calamities;  and,  anticipating  the  gloomy 
destiny  which  awaited  her,  she  settled  on  him  her  in- 
heritance of  Navarre,  to  the  entire  exclusion  of  her 
intended  assassins,  the  count  and  countess  of  Foix.  3' 

3°  Ferreras,  Hist.  d'Espagne,  torn.  vii.  p.  no. 

3'  Hist,  du  Royaume  de  Navarre,  p.  496. — Aleson,  Anales  de  Nar 
Vol.  I. — 10  u 


146  REIGN  OF  JOHN  II.   OF  ARAGON. 


On  the  same  day,  the  last  of  April,  1462,  she  was 
delivered  over  to  one  of  their  emissaries,  who  conducted 
her  to  the  castle  of  Ortes  in  B6arn,  where,  after  lan- 
guishing in  dreadful  suspense  for  nearly  two  years,  she 
was  poisoned  by  the  command  of  her  sister.**  The 
retribution  of  Providence  not  unfrequently  overtakes 
the  guilty  even  in  this  world.  The  countess  survived 
her  father  to  reign  in  Navarre  only  three  short  weeks ; 
while  the  crown  was  ravished  from  her  posterity  for- 
ever by  that  very  Ferdinand  whose  elevation  had  been 
the  object  to  his  parents  of  so  much  solicitude  and  so 
many  crimes. 

Within  a  fortnight  after  the  decease  of  Carlos,  on  the 
6th  of  October,  1461,  the  customary  oaths  of  allegiance, 
so  pertinaciously  withheld  from  that  unfortunate  prince, 
were  tendered  by  the  Aragonese  deputation,  at  Cala- 
tayud,  to  his  brother  Ferdinand,  then  only  ten  years 
of  age,  as  heir  apparent  of  the  monarchy;  after  which 
he  was  conducted  by  his  mother  into  Catalonia,  in 
order  to  receive  the  more  doubtful  homage  of  thai 
province.  The  extremities  of  Catalonia  at  this  time 
seemed  to  be  in  perfect  repose,  but  the  capital  was  still 

varra,  torn.  iv.  pp.  S90-593. — Abarca,  Reyes  de  Aragon,  torn.  ii.  fol. 
258,  259. — Zurita,  Anales,  lib.  17,  cap.  38. 

3a  Lebrija,  De  Bello  Navariensi  (Granatae,  1545),  lib.  i,  cap.  i,  fol. 
74. — Aleson,  Anales  de  Navarra,  ubi  supra. — Zurita,  Anales,  lib.  17, 
cap.  38. — The  Spanish  historians  are  not  agreed  as  to  the  time  or  even 
mocle  of  Blanche's  death.  All  concur,  however,  in  attributing  it  to 
assassination,  and  most  of  them,  with  the  learned  Antonio  Lebrija,  n 
contemporary  (loc.  cit.),  in  imputing  it  to  poison.  The  fiict  of  her 
death,  which  Aleson,  on  I  know  not  what  authority,  refers  to  the  2d 
of  December,  1464,  was  not  publicly  disclosed  till  some  months  after 
its  occurrence,  when  disclosure  became  necessary  in  consequence  of 
the  proposed  interposition  of  the  Navarrese  cortes. 


MINORITY  OF  FERDINAND. 


147 


agitated  by  secret  discontent.  The  ghost  of  Carlos  was 
seen  stalking  by  night  through  the  streets  of  Barcelona, 
bewailing  in  piteous  accents  his  untimely  end,  and  in- 
voking vengeance  on  his  unnatural  murderers.  The 
manifold  miracles  wrought  at  his  tomb  soon  gained 
him  the  reputation  of  a  saint,  and  his  image  received 
the  devotional  honors  reserved  for  such  as  have  been 
duly  canonized  by  the  church. ^3 

The  revolutionary  spirit  of  the  Barcelonians,  kept 
alive  by  the  recollection  of  past  injury,  as  well  as  by 
the  apprehensions  of  future  vengeance  should  John  suc- 
ceed in  re-establishing  his  authority  over  them,  soon 
became  so  alarming  that  the  queen,  whose  consummate 
address,  however,  had  first  accomplished  the  object  of 
her  visit,  found  it  advisable  to  withdraw  from  the 
capital ;  and  she  sought  refuge,  with  her  son  and  such 
few  adherents  as  still  remained  faithful  to  them,  in 
the  fortified  city  of  Gerona,  about  fifty  miles  north 
of  Barcelona. 

Hither,  however,  she  was  speedily  pursued  by  the 
Cat.ilan  militia,  embodied  under  the  command  of  their 
ancient  leader,  Roger,  count  of  Pallas,  and  eager  to 
regain  the  prize  which  they  had  so  inadvertently  lost. 

33Alonso  de  Palencia,  Cor6nica,  MS.,  part.  2,  cap.  51. — Zurita, 
Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  98. — Abarca,  Reyes  de  Aragon,  torn.  ii.  fol.  256, 
— Aleson,  Anales  de  Navarra,  torn.  i*. .  pp.  563  et  seq. — L.  Marineo, 
Cosas  memorables,  fol.  114. — According  to  Lanuza,  who  wrote  nearly 
two  centuries  after  the  death  of  Carlos,  the  flesh  upon  his  right  arm, 
which  had  been  amputated  for  the  purpose  of  a  more  convenient  appli- 
cation to  the  diseased  members  of  the  pilgrims  who  visited  his  shrine, 
remained  in  his  day  in  a  perfectly  sound  and  healthful  state!  (His- 
torias  eclesidsticas  y  seculares  de  Aragon,  tom.  i.  p.  553.)  Aleson 
wonders  that  any  should  doubt  the  truth  of  miracles  attested  by  the 
monks  of  the  very  monastery  in  which  Carlos  was  interred. 


148 


REIGN  OF  JOHN  II.  OF  A  RAG  ON. 


The  city  was  quickly  entered;  but  the  queen,  with  her 
handful  of  followers,  had  retreated  to  a  tower  belong- 
ing to  the  principal  church  in  the  place,  which,  as  was 
very  frequent  in  Spain  in  those  wild  times,  was  so 
strongly  fortified  as  to  be  capable  of  maintaining  a 
formidable  resistance.  To  oppose  this,  a  wooden  for- 
tress of  the  same  height  was  constructed  by  the  assail- 
ants, and  planted  with  lombards  and  other  pieces  of 
artillery  then  in  use,  which  kept  up  an  unintermitting 
discharge  of  stone  bullets  on  the  little  garrison. 3*  The 
Catalans  also  succeeded  in  running  a  mine  beneath  the 
fortress,  through  which  a  considerable  body  of  troops 
penetrated  into  it,  when,  their  premature  cries  of  ex- 
ultation having  discovered  them  to  the  besieged,  they 
were  repulsed,  after  a  desperate  struggle,  with  great 
slaughter.  The  queen  displayed  the  most  intrepid 
spirit  in  the  midst  of  these  alarming  scenes;  unap- 
palled  by  the  sense  of  her  own  danger  and  that  of  her 
child,  and  by  the  dismal  lamentations  of  the  females 
by  whom  she  was  surrounded,  she  visited  every  part 
of  the  works  in  person,  cheering  her  defenders  by  her 
presence  and   dauntless  resolution.     Such  were  the 

34  L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  ii6. — Alonso  de  Palencia, 
Cor6ni::a,  MS.,  part.  2,  cap.  51. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  113. — 
The  Sp.  niards,  deriving  the  knowledge  of  artillery  from  the  Arabs,  had 
become  familiar  with  it  before  the  other  nations  of  Christendom.  The 
affirmation  of  Zurita,  however,  that  five  thousand  balls  were  fired  from 
the  battery  of  the  besiegers  at  Gerona  in  one  day,  is  perfectly  absurd. 
So  little  was  the  science  of  gunnery  advanced  in  other  parts  of 
Europe  at  this  period,  and  indeed  later,  that  it  was  usual  for  a  field- 
piece  not  to  be  discharged  more  than  twice  in  the  course  of  an  action, 
if  we  may  credit  Machiavelli,  who,  indeed,  recommends  dispensing 
with  the  use  of  artillery  altogether.  Arte  della  Guerra,  lib.  3  (Opere, 
Genova,  1798). 


MINORITY  OF  FERDINAND. 


149 


Stormy  and  disastrous  scenes  in  which  the  youthful 
Ferdinand  commenced  a  career,  whose  subsequent 
prosperity  was  destined  to  be  checkered  by  scarcely  a 
reverse  of  fortune,  ^s 

In  the  mean  while,  John,  having  in  vain  attempted 
to  penetrate  through  Catalonia  to  the  relief  of  his  wife, 
effected  this  by  the  co-operation  of  his  French  ally, 
Louis  the  Eleventh.  That  monarch,  with  his  usual 
insidious  policy,  had  covertly  despatched  an  envoy  to 
Barcelona  on  the  death  of  Carlos,  assuring  the  Cata- 
lans of  his  protection  should  they  still  continue  averse 
to  a  reconciliation  with  their  own  sovereign.  These 
offers  were  but  coldly  received;  and  Louis  found  it 
more  for  his  interest  to  accept  the  propositions  made 
to  him  by  the  king  of  Aragon  himself,  which  subse- 
quently led  to  most  important  consequences.  By  three 
several  treaties,  of  the  3d,  21st,  and  23d  of  May,  1462, 
it  was  stipulated  that  Louis  should  furnish  his  ally  with 
seven  hundred  lances  and  a  proportionate  number  of 
archers  and  artillery  during  the  war  with  Barcelona,  to 
be  indemnified  by  the  payment  of  two  hundred  thou- 
sand gold  crowns  within  one  year  after  the  redu. .  ion 
of  that  city;  as  security  for  which  the  counties  of 
Roussillon  and  Cerdagne  were  pledged  by  John,  with 
the  cession  of  their  revenues  to  the  French  king,  until 
such  time  as  the  original  debt  should  be  redeemed.  In 
this  transaction  both  monarchs  manifested  their  usual 
policy;  Louis  believing  that  this  temporary  mortgage 
would  become  a  permanent  alienation,  from  John's 


35  Alonso  de  Palencia,  ConSnica,  MS.,  part.  2,  c.  51. — L.  Marineo, 
Cosas  memorables,  fol.  116. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  113. — Abarca, 
Reyes  de  Aragon,  torn.  ii.  fol.  259. 


! 


150         REIGN  OF  JOHN  II.  OF  A  HA  CON. 

inability  to  discharge  it;  while  the  latter  anticipated 
—as  the  event  showed,  with  more  justice — that  the 
aversion  of  the  inhabitants  to  the  dismemberment  of 
their  country  from  the  Aragonese  monarchy  would 
baffle  every  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  French  to 
occupy  it  permanently. 3* 

In  pursuance  of  these  arrangements,  seven  hundred 
French  lances  with  a  considerable  body  of  archers  and 
artillery  37  crossed  the  mountains,  and,  rapidly  advanc- 
ing on  Gerona,  compelled  the  insurgent  army  to  raise 
the  siege,  and  to  decamp  with  such  precipitation  as  to 
leave  their  cannon  in  the  hands  of  the  royalists.  The 
Catalans  now  threw  aside  the  thin  veil  with  which  they 
had  hitherto  covered  their  proceedings.  The  authori- 
ties of  the  principality,  established  in  Barcelona,  pub- 
licly renounced  their  allegiance  to  King  John  and  his 
son  Ferdinand,  and  proclaimed  them  enemies  of  the 
republic.  Writings  at  the  same  time  were  circulated, 
denouncing  from  Scriptural  authority,  as  well  as  natural 
reason,  the  doctrine  of  legitimacy  in  the  broadest  terms, 

36  Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  iii. — Another  100,000  crowns  were  to 
be  paid  in  case  further  assistance  should  be  required  from  the  French 
monarch  after  the  reduction  of  Barcelona.  This  treaty  has  been  in- 
correctly reported  by  most  of  the  French  and  all  the  Spanish  historians 
whom  I  have  consulted,  save  the  accurate  Zurita.  An  abstract  from 
the  original  documents,  compiled  by  the  Abbd  Legrand,  has  been  given 
by  M.  Petitot  in  his  recent  edition  of  the  Collection  des  Memoires 
relatifs  h.  I'Histoire  de  France  (Paris,  1836),  tom.  xi.  Introd.  p.  245. 

37  A  French  lance  of  that  day,  according  to  L.  Marineo,  was  accom- 
panied by  two  horsemen ;  so  that  the  whole  contingent  of  cavalry  to 
be  furnished  on  this  occasion  amounted  to  2100.  (Cosas  memorables, 
fol.  117.)  Nothing  could  be  more  indeterminate  than  the  complement 
of  a  lance  in  the  Middle  Ages.  It  is  not  unusual  to  find  it  reckoned 
at  five  or  six  horsemen. 


MINORITY  OF  FERDINAND. 


iSi 


and  insisting  that  the  Aragonese  monarchs,  far  from 
being  absolute,  might  be  lawfully  deposed  for  an  in- 
fringement of  the  liberties  of  the  nation.  **  The  good 
of  the  commonwealth,"  it  was  said,  "must  always  be 
considered  paramount  to  that  of  the  prince."  Extraor- 
dinary doctrines  these  for  the  age  in  which  they  were 
promulged,  affording  a  still  more  extraordinary  con- 
trast with  those  which  have  been  since  familiar  in  that 
unhappy  country  \'* 

The  government  then  enforced  levies  of  all  such  as 
were  above  the  age  of  fourteen,  and,  distrusting  the 
sufficiency  of  its  own  resources,  offered  the  sovereignty 
of  the  principality  to  Henry  the  Fourth  of  Castile. 
The  court  of  Aragon,  however,  had  so  successfully  in- 
sinuated its  influence  into  the  council  of  this  imbecile 
monarch,  that  he  was  not  permitted  to  afford  the  Cata- 
lans any  effectual  support ;  and,  as  he  abandoned  their 
cause  altogether  before  the  expiration  of  the  year, 39 
the  crown  was  offered  to  Don  Pedro,  constable  of  Por- 
tugal, a  descendant  of  the  ancient  house  of  Barcelona. 
In  the  mean  while,  the  old  king  of  Aragon,  attended 
by  his  youthful  son,  had  made  himself  master,  with  his 
characteristic  activity,  of  considerable  acquisitions  in 
the  revolted  territory,  successively  reducing  Lerida,*" 

38  Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  1 13-115. — Alonso  de  Palencia,  Cor6- 
nica,  MS.,  part.  2,  cap.  i, 

39  In  conformity  with  the  famous  verdict  gfiven  by  Louis  XI.  at  Bay- 
onne,  April  23d,  1463,  previously  to  the  interview  between  him  and 
Henry  IV.  on  the  shores  of  the  Bidassoa.  See  Part  I.  chap.  3  of  this 
History. 

*P  This  was  the  battle-ground  of  Julius  Caesar  in  his  wars  with  Pom- 
pey.  See  his  ingenious  military  manoeuvre  as  simply  narrated  in  his 
own  Commentaries  (De  Bello  Civili,  tom.  i.  p.  54),  and  by  Lucan 
(Pharsalia,  lib.  4)  with  his  usual  swell  of  hyperbole. 


15a  REIG/^  OF  yonx  II.  OF  ARAGON. 


I   '  \  ;■■  ■ 


! 


! 


Cen'cra,  Amposta,*'  Tortosa,  and  the  most  important 
places  in  the  south  of  Catalonia.  (1464.)  Many  of 
these  places  were  strongly  fortified,  and  most  of  them 
defended  with  a  resolution  which  cost  the  conqueror  a 
prodigious  sacrifice  of  time  and  money.  John,  like 
Philip  of  Macedon,  made  use  of  gold  even  more  than 
arms,  for  the  reduction  of  his  enemies ;  and,  though 
he  indulged  in  occasional  acts  of  resentment,  his  gen- 
eral treatment  of  those  who  submitted  was  as  liberal 
as  it  was  politic.  His  competitor,  Don  Pedro,  had 
brought  little  foreign  aid  to  the  sup|x>rt  of  his  enter- 
prise; he  had  failed  altogether  in  conciliating  the 
attachment  of  his  new  subjects ;  and,  as  the  operations 
of  the  war  had  been  conducted  on  his  part  in  the  most 
languid  manner,  the  whole  of  the  principality  seemed 
destined  soon  to  relapse  under  the  dominion  of  its  an- 
cient master.  At  this  juncture  the  Portuguese  prince 
fell  ill  of  a  fever,  of  which  he  died  on  the  29th  of 
June,  1466.  This  event,  which  seemed  likely  to  lead 
to  a  termination  of  the  i»-ar,  proved  ultimately  the 
cause  of  its  protraction.** 

4>  The  cold  was  so  intense  at  the  siege  of  Amposta,  that  serpents 
of  an  enormous  magnitude  are  reported  by  L.  Marineo  to  have 
descended  from  the  mountains  and  taken  refuge  in  the  camp  of  the 
besiegers.  Portentous  and  supernatural  voices  were  frequently  heard 
during  the  nights.  Indeed,  the  superstition  of  the  soldiers  appears  to 
have  been  so  lively  as  to  have  preparetl  them  for  seeing  and  hearing 
anything. 

♦«  Faria  y  Sousa,  Europa  Portuguesa,  tom.  ii.  p.  390. — Alonso  de 
Palencia.  MS.,  part.  2.  cap.  60.  61. — Castillo,  Cronica,  pp.  43,  44,  46, 
49.50.54- — Zurita,  .\nales,  tom.  ii.  fol.  116,  124,  127,  128,  130,  137, 
147. — M.  La  ClMe  states  that  "  Don  Pedro  no  sooner  arrived  in  Cata- 
lonia than  he  was  poisoned."  (Histoire  gen^rale  de  Portugal  (Paris, 
1735),  tom.  iii.  p.  245.)  It  must  have  been  a  very  slow  poison.  He 
arrived  January  2tst,  1464,  and  died  June  29th,  1466. 


If  i?"i  i 


MINORITY  OF  FERDINAND. 


m 


It  appeared,  however,  to  present  a  favorable  oppor- 
tunity to  John  for  opening  a  negotiation  with  the 
insurgents.  But  so  resolute  were  they  in  maintain- 
ing their  independence,  that  the  council  of  Barcelona 
condemned  two  of  the  principal  citizens,  suspected  of 
defection  from  the  cause,  to  be  publicly  executed ;  it 
refused  moreover  to  admit  an  envoy  from  the  Aragon- 
ese  cortes  within  the  city,  and  caused  the  despatches 
with  which  he  was  intrusted  by  that  body  to  be  torn  in 
pieces  before  his  face. 

The  Catalans  then  proceeded  to  elect  Ren6  le  Bon, 
as  he  was  styled,  of  Anjou,  to  the  vacant  throne, 
brother  of  one  of  the  original  competitors  for  the 
crown  of  Aragon  on  the  demise  of  Martin ;  whose 
cognomen  of  **  Good"  is  indicative  of  a  sway  far  more 
salutary  to  his  subjects  than  the  more  coveted  and  im- 
posing title  of  Great. ^'  This  titular  sovereign  of  half 
a  dozen  empires,  in  which  he  did  not  actually  possess 
a  rood  of  land,  was  too  far  advanced  in  years  to  assume 
this  perilous  enterprise  himself;  and  he  af(  ordingly 
intrusted  it  to  his  son  John,  duke  of  Calabria  and 
Lorraine,  who,  in  his  romantic  expeditions  in  southern 
Italy,   had    acquired    a   reputation  for  courtesy  and 

«  Sir  Walter  Scott,  in  his  "Anne  of  Geierstein,"  has  brought  into 
full  relief  the  ridiculous  side  of  Rent's  character.  The  good  king's 
fondness  for  poetry  and  the  arts,  however,  although  showing  itself  oc- 
casionally in  puerile  eccentricities,  may  compare  advantageously  with 
the  coarse  appetites  and  mischievous  activity  of  most  of  the  con- 
temporary princes.  After  all,  the  best  tribute  to  his  worth  was  the 
earnest  attachment  of  his  people.  His  biogniphy  has  been  well  and 
diligently  compiled  by  the  viscount  of  Villeneuve  Bargemont  (His- 
toire  de  Ren^  d' Anjou,  Paris,  1825),  who  has,  however,  indulged  in 
greater  detail  than  was  perhaps  to  have  been  desired  by  Ren^,  or  by 
his  readers. 

G* 


«5* 


REIGN  OF  JOHN  II.  OF  A  RAG  ON. 


y9i 


knightly  prowess,  inferior  to  none  other  of  his  time.^ 
Crowds  of  adventurers  flocked  to  the  standard  of  a 
leader  whose  ample  inheritance  of  pretensions  had 
made  him  familiar  with  war  from  his  earliest  boyhood  ; 
and  he  soon  found  himself  at  the  head  of  eight  thou- 
sand effective  troops.  Louis  the  Eleventh,  although 
not  directly  aiding  his  enterprise  with  supplies  of  men 
or  rnoney,  was  willing  so  far  to  countenance  it  as  to 
open  a  passage  for  him  through  the  mountain  fastnesses 
of  Roussillon,  then  in  his  keeping,  and  thus  enable  him 
to  descend  with  his  whole  army  at  once  on  the  northern 
borders  of  Catalonia/s  (^1467.) 

The  king  of  Aragon  could  oppose  no  force  capable 
of  resisting  this  formidable  army.  His  exchequer, 
always  low,  was  completely  exhausted  by  the  extraor- 
dinary efforts  which  he  had  made  in  the  late  campaigns; 
and,  as  the  king  of  France,  either  disgusted  with  the 
long  protraction  of  the  war,  or  from  secret  good  will 
to  the  enterprise  of  his  feudal  subject,  withheld  from 
King  John  the  stipulated  subsidies,  the  latter  monarch 
found  himself  unable,  with  every  expedient  of  loan 

44  Comines  says  of  hin:,  "X  tous  alarmes  c'estoit  le  premier  homme 
arme,  et  de  toutes  pieces,  et  son  cheval  tousjours  bard^.  II  portoit  un 
habillement  que  ces  conducteurs  portent  en  Italic,  et  sembloit  bien 
prince  et  chef  de  guerre ;  et  y  avoit  d'ob^issance  autant  que  mon- 
seigneur  de  Charolois,  et  luy  obeissoit  tout  Tost  de  meilleur  cceur,  car 
h.  la  verite  il  estoit  digne  d'estre  honor^."  Philippe  de  Comines,  Me- 
moires,  ed.  Petitot  (Paris,  1826),  liv.  i,  chap.  11. 

45  Villeneuve  Bargemont,  Hist,  de  Rene,  tom.  ii.  pp.  168,  169. — 
Histoire  de  Louys  XI.,  autrement  dicte  La  Chronique  scandaleuse, 
par  un  Greffier  de  I'Hostel  de  Ville  de  Paris  (Paris,  i6'2o),  p.  145. — 
Zurita,  Anaies,  tom.  iv.  fol.  150,  153. — ^Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica, 
MS.,  part.  2,  cap.  17. — Palencia  swells  the  numbers  of  the  French  in 
the  service  of  the  duke  of  Lorraine  to  20,000. 


MINORITY  OF  FERDINAND. 


155 


and  exaction,  to  raise  sufficient  money  to  pay  his  troops 
or  to  supply  his  magazines.  In  addition  to  this,  he 
was  now  involved  in  a  dispute  with  the  count  and 
countess  of  Foix,  who,  eager  to  anticipate  the  pos- 
session of  Navarre,  which  had  been  guaranteed  to  them 
on  their  father's  decease,  threatened  a  similar  rebellion, 
though  on  much  less  justifiable  pretences,  to  that  which 
he  had  just  experienced  from  Don  Carlos.  To  crown 
the  whole  of  John's  calamities,  his  eyesight,  which  had 
been  impaired  by  exposure  and  protracted  sufferings 
during  the  winter  siege  of  Amposta,  now  failed  him 
altogether.** 

In  this  extremity,  his  intrepid  wife,  putting  herself 
at  the  head  of  such  forces  as  she  could  collect,  passed 
by  water  to  the  eastern  shores  of  Catalonia,  besieging 
Rosas  in  person,  and  checking  the  operations  of  the 
enemy  by  the  capture  of  several  inferior  places ;  while 
Prince  Ferdinand,  effecting  a  junction  with  her  before 
Gerona,  compelled  the  duke  of  Lorraine  to  abandon 
the  siege  of  that  important  city.  Ferdinand's  ardor, 
however,  had  nearly  proved  fatal  to  him ;  as,  in  an  acci- 
dental encounter  with  a  more  numerous  party  of  the 
enemy,  his  jaded  horse  would  infallibly  have  betrayed 
him  into  their  hands,  had  it  not  been  for  the  devotion 
of  his  officers,  several  of  whom,  throwing  themselves 
between  him  and  his  pursuers,  enabled  him  to  escape 
by  the  sacrifice  of  their  own  liberty. 

These  ineffectual  struggles  could  not  turn  the  tide  of 


**  L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  139. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv. 
fol.  148,  149,  158. — ^Aleson,  Anales  de  Navarra,  torn.  iv.  pp.  611-613. 
— Duclos,  Hist,  de  Louis  XI.  (Amsterdam,  1746),  torn.  ii.  p.  114. — 
Mem.  de  Comines,  Petitot,  Introd.  p.  258. 


156 


REJGN  OF  yoIIN  IL  OF  AH  AGON. 


fortune.  The  duke  of  Lorraine  succeeded  in  this  and 
the  two  following  campaigns  in  making  himself  master 
of  all  the  rich  district  of  Ampurdan,  northeast  of  Bar- 
celona. In  the  capital  itself,  his  truly  princely  quali- 
ties and  his  popular  address  secured  him  the  most 
unbounded  influence.  Such  was  the  enthusiasm  for  his 
person,  that,  when  he  rode  abroad,  the  people  thronged 
around  him,  embracing  his  knees,  the  trappings  of  his 
steed,  and  even  the  animal  himself,  in  their  extrava- 
gance ;  while  the  ladies,  it  is  said,  pawned  their  rings, 
necklaces,  and  other  ornaments  of  their  attire,  in  order 
to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  war.*' 

King  John,  in  the  mean  while,  was  draining  the  cup 
of  bitterness  to  the  dregs.  In  the  winter  of  1468,  his 
queen,  Joan  Henriquez,  fell  a  victim  to  a  painful  dis- 
order, which  had  been  secretly  corroding  her  constitu- 
tion for  a  number  of  years.  In  many  respects,  she  was 
the  most  remarkable  woman  of  her  time.  She  took  an 
active  part  in  the  politics  of  her  husband,  and  may  be 
even  said  to  have  given  them  a  direction.  She  con- 
ducted several  important  diplomatic  negotiations  to  a 
happy  issue,  and,  what  was  more  uncommon  in  her 
sex,  displayed  considerable  capacity  for  military  affairs. 
Her  persecution  of  her  stepson  Carlos  has  left  a  deep 
stain  on  her  memory.  It  was  the  cause  of  all  her  hus- 
band's subsequent  misfortunes.  Her  invincible  spirit, 
however,  and  the  resources  of  her  genius,  supplied  him 
with  the  best  means  of  surmounting  many  of  the  diffi- 
culties in  which  she  had  involved  him,  and  her  loss  at 


47  Villeneuve  Bargemont,  Hist,  de  Ren6,  torn.  ii.  pp.  182,  183. — L. 
Marineo,  fol.  140. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  153-164. — Abarca, 
Reyes  de  Aragon,  torn.  ii.  rey  29,  cap.  7. 


MINORITY  OF  FERDINAND. 


157 


this  crisis  seemed  to  leave  him  at  once  without  solace 
or  support.*^ 

At  this  period,  he  was  further  embarrassed,  as  will 
appear  in  the  ensuing  chapter,  by  negotiations  for  Ferdi- 
nand's marriage,  which  was  to  deprive  him,  in  a  great 
measure,  of  his  son's  co-operation  in  the  struggle  with 
his  subjects,  and  which,  as  he  lamented,  while  he  had 
scarcely  three  hundred  enriques  in  his  coffers,  called  on 
him  for  additional  disbursements. 

As  the  darkest  hour,  however,  is  commonly  said  to 
precede  the  dawning,  so  light  now  seemed  to  break 
upon  the  affairs  of  John.  A  physician  in  Lerida  of  the 
Hebrew  race,  which  monopolized  at  that  time  almost 
all  the  medical  science  in  Spain,  persuaded  the  king  to 
submit  to  the  then  unusual  operation  of  couching,  and 
succeeded  in  restoring  sight  to  one  of  his  eyes.  As  the 
Jew,  after  the  fashion  of  the  Arabs,  debased  his  real 
science  with  astrology,  he  refused  to  operate  on  the 
other  eye,  since  the  planets,  he  said,  wore  a  malignant 
aspect.  But  John's  rugged  nature  was  insensible  to  the 
timorous  superstitions  of  his  age,  and  he  compelled  the 
physician  to  repeat  his  experiment,  which  in  the  end 
proved  perfectly  successful.  Thus  restored  to  his 
natural  faculties,  the  octogenarian  chief,  for  such  he 
might  now  almost  be  called,  regained  his  wonted  elas- 

48  Alonso  de  Palencia,  Cor6nica,  MS.,  part.  2,  cap.  88. — L.  Marineo, 
Cosas  memorables,  fol.  143. — Aleson,  Anales  de  Navarra,  torn.  iv.  p. 
609. — The  queen's  death  was  said  to  have  been  caused  by  a  cancer. 
According  to  Aleson  and  some  other  Spanish  writers,  Joan  was  heard 
several  times,  in  her  last  illness,  to  exclaim,  in  allusion,  as  was  sup- 
posed, to  her  assassination  of  Carlos,  "  Alas !  Ferdinand,  how  dear  thou 
hast  cost  thy  mother!"  I  find  no  notice  of  this  improbable  confession 
in  any  contemporary  author. 


158 


HE/GX  OF  JOHN  II.  OF  A  RAG  ON. 


%\ 


"I'i 
■at'i 


ticity,  and  prepared  to  resume  offensive  operations 
against  the  enemy  with  all  his  accustomed  energy.^ 

Heaven,  too,  as  if  taking  compassion  on  his  accumu- 
lated misfortunes,  now  removed  the  principal  obstacle 
to  his  success  by  the  death  of  the  duke  of  Lorraine, 
who  was  summoned  from  the  theatre  of  his  short-lived 
triumphs  on  the  i6th  of  December,  1469.*  The  Barce- 
lonians  were  thrown  into  the  greatest  consternation  by 
his  death,  imputed,  as  usual,  though  without  apparent 
foundation,  to  poison  \  and  their  respect  for  his  memory 
was  attested  by  the  honors  no  less  than  royal  which 
they  paid  to  his  remains.  His  body,  sumptuously  at- 
tired, with  his  victorious  sword  by  his  side,  was  paraded 
in  solemn  procession  through  the  illuminated  streets  of 
the  city,  and,  after  lying  nine  days  in  state,  was  de- 
posited, amid  the  lamentations  of  the  people,  in  the 
sepulchre  of  the  sovereigns  of  Catalonia. 5° 

As  the  father  of  the  deceased  prince  was  too  old, 

«  Mariana,  Hist,  de  Espana,  torn.  ii.  pp.  459,  460. — L.  Marineo, 
Cosas  memorables,  fol.  141. — Alonso  de  Palencia,  Cor6nica,  MS., 
cap.  88. 

50  Villeneuve  Bargemont,  Hist,  de  Ren^,  torn.  ii.  pp.  182,  333,  334. 
— L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  142. — Alonso  de  Palencia, 
Coronica,  part.  2,  cap.  39. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  178. — Accord- 
ing to  M.  de  Villeneuve  Bargemont,  the  princess  Isabella's  hand  had 
been  offered  to  the  duke  of  Lorraine,  and  the  envoy  despatched  to 
notify  his  acceptance  of  it,  on  arriving  at  the  court  of  Castile,  received 
from  the  lips  of  Henry  IV.  the  first  tidings  of  his  master's  death  (torn, 
ii.  p.  184).  He  must  have  learned  too  with  no  less  surprise  that  Isa- 
bella had  already  been  married  at  that  time  more  than  a  year !  See 
the  date  of  the  official  marriage  recorded  in  Mem.  de  la  Acad,  de  Hist., 
torn.  vi.  Apend.  no.  4. 


*  [This  date  should  be  1470.     See  Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  178 , 
recto,  and  Lenglet,  M6m.  de  Comines,  Preuves,  torn.  iv.  p.  384. — Ed.] 


MINORITY  OF  FERDINAND, 


159 


and  his  children  too  young,  to  give  eflfectual  aid  to 
their  cause,  the  Catalans  might  be  now  said  to  be  again 
without  a  leader.  But  their  spirit  was  unbroken,  and 
with  the  same  resolution  in  which  they  refused  submis- 
sion more  than  two  centuries  after,  in  1714,  when  the 
combined  forces  of  France  and  Spain  were  at  the  gates 
of  the  capital,  they  rejected  the  conciliatory  advances 
made  them  anew  by  John.  That  monarch,  however, 
having  succeeded  by  extraordinary  efforts  in  assembling 
a  competent  force,  was  proceeding  with  his  usual  alacrity 
in  the  reduction  of  such  places  in  the  eastern  quarter 
of  Catalonia  as  had  revolted  to  the  enemy,  while  at 
the  same  time  he  instituted  a  rigorous  blockade  of  Barce- 
lona by  sea  and  land.  The  fortifications  were  strong, 
and  the  king  was  unwilling  to  expose  so  fair  a  city  to 
the  devastating  horrors  of  a  storm.  The  inhabitants 
made  one  vigorous  effort  in  a  sally  against  the  royal 
forces ;  but  the  civic  militia  were  soon  broken,  and  the 
loss  of  four  thousand  men,  killed  and  prisoners,  admon- 
ished them  of  their  inability  to  cope  with  the  veterans 
of  Aragon.s' 

At  length,  reduced  to  the  last  extremity,  they  con- 
sented to  enter  into  negotiations,  which  were  concluded 
by  a  treaty  equally  honorable  to  both  parties.  It  was 
stipulated  that  Barcelona  should  re*^ain  all  its  ancient 
privileges  and  rights  of  jurisdiction,  and,  with  some 
exceptions,  its  large  territorial  possessions.  A  general 
amnesty  was  to  be  granted  for  offences.  The  foreign 
mercenaries  were  to  be  allowed  to  depart  in  safety; 


5»  Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  part.  2,  cap.  29,  45. — Zurita, 
Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  180-183. — Abarca,  Reyes  de  Aragon,  rey  29, 
cap.  29. 


i6o  REIGN  OF  JOHN  II.  OF  ARAGON. 


% 


\  W  Iti 


\ 


:«1 

( :>■■'! 

'ii,; 


and  such  of  the  natives  as  should  refuse  to  renew  their 
allegiance  to  their  ancient  sovereign  within  a  year  might 
have  the  liberty  of  removing  with  their  effects  wherever 
they  would.  One  provision  may  be  thought  somewhat 
smgular,  after  what  had  occurred ;  it  was  agreed  that 
the  king  should  cause  the  Barcelonians  to  be  publicly 
proclaimed,  throughout  all  his  dominions,  good,  faith- 
ful, and  loyal  subjects;  which  was  accordingly  done! 

The  king,  after  the  adjustment  of  the  preliminaries, 
**  declining,"  says  a  contemporary,  "  the  triumphal  car 
which  had  been  prepared  for  him,  made  his  entrance 
into  the  city  by  the  gate  of  St.  Antony,  mounted  on  a 
white  charger  J  and,  as  he  rode  along  the  principal 
streets,  the  sight  of  so  many  pallid  countenances  and 
emaciated  figures,  bespeaking  the  extremity  of  famine, 
smote  his  heart  with  sorrow."  He  then  proceeded  to 
the  hall  of  the  great  palace,  and  on  the  2 2d  of  Decem- 
ber, 1472,  solemnly  swore  there  to  respect  the  consti- 
tution and  laws  of  Catalonia. s" 

Thus  ended  this  long,  disastrous  civil  war,  the  fruit 
of  parental  injustice  and  oppression,  which  had  nearly 
cost  the  king  of  Aragon  the  fairest  portion  of  his  do- 
minions ;  which  devoted  to  disquietude  and  disappoint- 
ment more  than  ten  years  of  life,  at  a  period  when 
repose  is  most  grateful ;  and  which  opened  the  way  to 
foreign  wars,  that  continued  to  hang  like  a  dark  cloud 
over  the  evening  of  his  days.  It  was  attended,  how- 
ever, with  one  important  result ;  that  of  establishing 
Ferdinand's  succession  over  the  whole  of  the  domains 
of  his  ancestors. 

S3  L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  144,  147. — Zurita,  Anales, 
torn.  iv.  fol.  187,  188. — Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  part,  3, 
cap.  I. 


CHAPTER   III. 

REIGN    OF    HENRY    IV.    OF   CASTILE. CIVIL   WAR. — MAR- 
RIAGE  OF   FERDINAND   AND    ISABELLA. 


X454-I469. 

Henry  IV.  disappoints  Expectations. — Oppression  of  the  People. — 
League  of  the  Nobles. — Extraordinary  Scene  at  Avila. — Early  Edu- 
cation of  Isabella. — Death  of  her  Brother  Alfonso. — Intestine  An- 
archy.— The  Crown  offered  to  Isabella. — She  declines  it. — Her 
Suitors. — She  accepts  Ferdinand  of  Aragon. — Marriage  Articles. — 
Critical  Situation  of  Isabella. — Ferdinand  enters  Castile. — Their 
Marriage. 

"While  these  stormy  events  were  occurring  in  Ara- 
gon, the  Infanta  Isabella,  whose  birth  was  mentioned 
at  the  close  of  the  first  chapter,  was  passing  her  youth 
amidst  scenes  scarcely  less  tumultuous.  At  the  date 
of  her  birth,  her  prospect  of  succeeding  to  the  throne 
of  her  ancestors  was  even  more  remote  than  Ferdinand's 
prospect  of  inheriting  that  of  his ;  and  it  is  interesting 
to  observe  through  what  trials,  and  by  what  a  series  of 
remarkable  events,  Providence  was  pleased  to  bring 
about  this  result,  and  through  it  the  union,  so  long  de- 
ferred, of  the  great  Spanish  monarchies. 

The  accession  of  her  elder  brother,  Henry  the  Fourth, 
was  welcomed  with  an  enthusiasm  proportioned  to  the  dis- 
gust which  had  been  excited  by  the  long-protracted  and 
imbecile  reign  of  his  predecessor.  Some  few,  indeed, 
who  looked  back  to  the  time  when  he  was  arrayed  in 
Vol.  I.— II  -'  (161) 


i6a 


CASTILE   UNDER  HENRY  IV. 


arms  against  his  father,  distrusted  the  soundness  either 
of  his  principles  or  of  his  judgment.  But  far  the 
larger  portion  of  the  nation  was  disposed  to  refer  this 
to  inexperience,  or  the  ebullition  of  youthful  spirit, 
and  indulged  the  cheering  anticipations  which  are 
usually  entertained  of  a  new  reign  and  a  young  mon- 
arch.' Henry  was  distinguished  by  a  benign  temper, 
and  by  a  condescension,  which  might  be  called  famili- 
arity, in  his  intercourse  with  his  inferiors,  virtues  pe- 
culiarly engaging  in  persons  of  his  elevated  station ; 
and  as  vices  which  wear  the  gloss  of  youth  are  not 
only  pardoned,  but  are  oftentimes  popular  with  the 
vulgar,  the  reckless  extravagance  in  which  he  indulged 
himself  was  favorably  contrasted  with  the  severe  parsi- 
mony of  his  father  in  his  latter  years,  and  gained  him 
the  surname  of  "the  Liberal."  His  treasurer  having 
remonstrated  with  him  on  the  prodigality  of  his  ex- 
penditure, he  replied,  "  Kings,  instead  of  hoarding 
treasure  like  private  persons,  are  bound  to  dispense  it 
for  the  happiness  of  their  subjects.  We  must  give  to 
our  enemies  to  make  them  friends,  and  to  our  friends 
to  keep  them  so. ' '  He  suited  the  action  so  well  to  the 
word,  that  in  a  few  years  there  was  scarcely  a  maravedi 
remaining  in  the  royal  coffers." 

■  "  Nil  pudet  assuetos  sceptris :  mitissimii  sors  est 
Regnorum  sub  rege  novo." 

Lucan,  Pharsalin,  lib.  8. 

»  Oviedo,  Quincuagenas,  MS.,  bat.  i,  quinc.  i,  dial.  8. — Rodericus 
Sanctius,  Historia  Hispanica,  cap.  38,  39. — Pulgar,  Claros  Varones, 
tit.  I. — Castillo,  Cr6nica,  i.  20. — Guzman,  Generaciones,  cap.  33. — 
Although  Henry's  lavish  expenditure,  particularly  on  works  of  archi- 
tecture, gained  him  in  early  life  the  appellation  of  "  the  Liberal,"  he  is 
better  known  on  the  roll  of  Castilian  sovereigns  by  the  less  flattering 
title  of  "  the  Impotent." 


MARRIAGE  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA.  163 

He  maintained  greater  state  than  was  usual  with  the 
monarchs  of  Castile,  keeping  in  pay  a  body-guard  of 
thirty-six  hundred  lances,  splendidly  equipped,  and 
officered  by  the  sons  of  the  nobility.  He  proclaimed 
a  crusade  against  the  Moors,  a  measure  ah\  ays  popular 
in  Castile,  assuming  the  pomegranate  branch,  the  de- 
vice of  Granada,  on  his  escutcheon,  in  token  of  his 
intention  to  extirpate  the  Moslems  from  the  Peninsula. 
He  assembled  the  chivalry  of  the  remote  provinces; 
and,  in  the  early  part  of  his  reign,  scarce  a  year  elapsed 
without  one  or  more  incursions  into  the  hostile  terri- 
tory, with  armies  of  thirty  or  forty  thousand  men.  The 
results  did  not  correspond  with  the  magnificence  of  the 
apparatus;  and  these  brilliant  expeditions  too  often 
evaporated  in  a  mere  border  foray,  or  in  an  empty  gas- 
conade under  the  walls  of  Granada.  Orchards  were 
cut  down,  harvests  plundered,  villages  burnt  to  the 
ground,  and  all  the  other  modes  of  annoyance  peculiar 
to  this  barbarous  warfare  put  in  practice  by  the  invading 
armies,  as  they  swept  over  the  face  of  the  country ;  in- 
dividual feats  of  prowess,  too,  commemorated  in  the 
romantic  ballads  of  the  time,  were  achieved;  but  no 
victory  was  gained,  no  important  post  acquired.  The 
king  in  vain  excused  his  hasty  retreats  and  abortive 
enterprises,  by  saying  that  "he  prized  the  life  of  one 
of  his  soldiers  more  than  those  of  a  thousand  Mussul- 
mans. ' '  His  troops  murmured  at  this  timorous  policy ; 
and  the  people  of  the  south,  on  whom  the  charges  of 
the  expeditions  fell  with  peculiar  heaviness,  from  their 
neighborhood  to  the  scene  of  operations,  complained 
that  "the  war  was  carried  on  against  them,  not  against 
the  infidel."     On  one  occasion  an  attempt  was  made 


V  f      I;: 


164 


CASTILE   UNDER  HENRY  IV. 


1 


to  detain  the  king's  person,  and  thus  prevent  him  from 
disbanding  his  forces.  So  soon  had  the  royal  authority 
fallen  into  contempt !  The  king  of  Granada  himself, 
when  summoned  to  pay  tribute  after  a  series  of  these 
ineffectual  operations,  replied  that,  "in  the  first  years 
of  Henry's  reign,  he  would  have  offered  anything,  even 
his  children,  to  preserve  peace  to  his  dominions;  but 
now  he  would  give  nothing. "^ 

The  contempt  to  which  the  king  exposed  himself  by 
his  public  conduct  was  still  further  heightened  by  his 
domestic.  With  even  a  greater  indisposition  to  busi- 
ness than  was  manifested  by  his  father,*  he  possessed 
none  of  the  cultivated  tastes  which  were  the  redeeming 
qualities  of  the  latter.  Having  been  addicted  from  his 
earliest  youth  to  debauchery,  when  he  had  lost  the 
powers  he  retained  all  the  relish  for  the  brutish  pleas- 
ures of  a  voluptuary.  He  had  repudiated  his  wife, 
Blanche  of  Aragon,  after  a  union  of  twelve  years,  on 
grounds  sufficiently  ridiculous  and  humiliating.^  In 
1455,  he  espoused  Joanna,  a  Portuguese  princess,  sister 

3  Zuniga,  Anales  eclesidsticos  y  seculares  de  Sevilla,  p.  344. — Cas- 
tillo, Cronica,  cap.  20. — Mariana,  Hist,  de  Espafla,  torn.  ii.  pp.  415, 
419. — Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  part,  i,  cap.  14  et  seq. — 
The  suqirise  of  Gibraltar,  the  unhappy  source  of  feud  between  the 
families  of  Guzman  and  Ponce  de  Leon,  did  not  occur  till  a  later 
period,  1462. 

4  Such  was  his  apathy,  says  Mariana,  that  he  would  subscribe  his 
name  to  public  ordinances  without  taking  the  trouble  to  acquaint  him- 
self with  their  contents.     Hist,  de  Espafia,  torn,  ii,  p.  423. 

s  Pulgar,  Cronica  de  los  Reyes  Catolicos  (Valencia,  1780),  cap.  2. — 
Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  part,  i,  cap.  4. — Aleson,  Anales  de 
Navarra,  torn.  iv.  pp.  519,  520. — The  marriage  between  Blanche  and 
Henry  was  publicly  declared  void  by  the  bishop  of  Segovia,  confirmed 
by  the  archbishop  of  Toledo,  "  por  impotencia  respectiva,  owing  to  some 
malign  influence"! 


MARRIAGE  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


i6s 


of  Alfonso  the  Fifth,  the  reigning  monarch.  This  lady, 
then  in  the  bloom  of  youth,  was  possessed  of  personal 
graces  and  a  lively  wit,  which,  say  the  historians,  made 
her  the  delight  of  the  court  of  Portugal.  She  was 
accompanied  by  a  brilliant  train  of  maidens,  and  her 
entrance  into  Castile  was  greeted  by  the  festivities  and 
military  pageants  which  belong  to  an  age  of  chivalry. 
The  light  and  lively  manners  of  the  young  queen,  how- 
ever, which  seemed  to  defy  the  formal  etiquette  of  the 
Castilian  court,  gave  occasion  to  the  grossest  suspicions. 
The  tongue  of  scandal  indicated  Beltran  de  la  Cueva, 
one  of  the  handsomest  cavaliers  in  the  kingdom,  and 
then  newly  risen  in  the  royal  graces,  as  the  person  to 
whom  she  most  liberally  dispensed  her  favors.  This 
knight  defended  a  passage  of  arms,  in  presence  of  the 
court,  near  Madrid,  in  which  he  maintained  the  supe- 
rior beauty  of  his  mistress,  against  all  comers.  The 
king  was  so  much  delighted  with  his  prowess  that  he 
commemorated  the  event  by  the  erection  of  a  monastery 
dedicated  to  St.  Jerome;  a  whimsical  origin  for  a  reli- 
gious institution.* 

6  La  Clfede,  Hist,  de  Portugal,  torn.  iii.  pp.  325, 345. — Florez,  Reynas 
Catholicas,  torn.  ii.  pp.  763,  766. — Alonso  de  Palencia,  Cor6nica,  MS., 
part.  I,  cap.  20,  21. — It  does  not  appear,  however,  whom  Beltran  de  la 
Cueva  indicated  as  the  lady  of  his  love  on  this  occasion.  (See  Castillo, 
Cronica,  cap.  23,  24.)  Two  anecdotes  may  be  mentioned  as  char- 
acteristic of  the  gallantry  of  the  times.  The  archbishop  of  Seville  con- 
cluded a  superb /?/<?,  given  in  honor  of  the  royal  nuptials,  by  introducing 
on  the  table  two  vases  filled  with  rings  garnished  with  precious  stones, 
to  be  distributed  among  his  female  guests.  At  a  ball  given  on  another 
occasion,  the  young  queen  having  condescended  to  dance  with  the 
French  ambassador,  the  latter  made  a  solemn  vow,  in  commemora- 
tion of  so  distinguished  an  honor,  never  to  dance  with  any  other 
woman. 


1 66 


CASr/LE    CXDEK  HENRY  IV. 


The  (luccn's  levity  might  have  sought  some  justifica- 
tion  in  the  unveiled  licentiousness  of  her  husband. 
One  of  the  maids  of  honor,  whom  she  brought  in  her 
train,  acquired  an  ascendency  over  Henry  which  he 
did  not  attempt  to  disguise;  and  the  palace,  after  the 
exhibition  of  the  most  disgraceful  scenes,  became 
divided  by  the  factions  of  the  hostile  fair  ones.  The 
archbishop  of  Seville  did  not  blush  to  espouse  the  cause 
of  the  paramour,  who  maintained  a  magnificence  of 
state  which  rivalled  that  of  royalty  itself.  The  public 
were  still  more  scandalized  by  Henry's  sacrilegious  in- 
trusion of  another  of  his  mistresses  into  the  post  of 
abbess  of  a  convent  in  Toledo,  after  the  expulsion  of 
her  predecessor,  a  lady  of  noble  rank  and  irreproach- 
able character.' 

The  stream  of  corruption  soon  finds  its  way  from  the 
higher  to  the  more  humble  walks  of  life.  The  middling 
classes,  imitating  their  superiors,  indulged  in  an  excess 
of  luxury  equally  demoralizing,  and  ruinous  to  their 
fortunes.  The  contagion  of  example  infected  even  the 
higher  ecclesiastics;  and  we  find  the  archbishop  of  St. 
James  hunted  from  his  see  by  the  indignant  populace, 
in  consequence  of  an  outrage  attempted  on  a  youthful 
bride  as  she  was  returning  from  church  after  the  per- 
formance of  the  nuptial  ceremony.  The  rights  of  the 
people  could  be  but  little  consulted,  or  cared  for,  in  a 
court  thus  abandoned  to  unbounded  license.  Accord- 
ingly we  find  a  repetition  of  most  of  the  unconstitu- 
tional and  oppressive  acts  which  occurred  under  John 
the  Second  of  Castile, — ^attempts  at  arbitrary  taxation, 

»  Alonso  de  Palcncia,  Coronica.  MS.,  cap.  43,  47. — Castillo,  Cr6nica, 
cap,  23. 


MARRIAGE  OF  FERPINAXD  AND  ISAHF.LLA.   167 

interference  in  the  freedom  of  elections,  and  in  the 
right  exercised  by  the  cities  of  nominating  the  com- 
manders of  such  contingents  of  trooiMi  as  they  might 
contribute  to  the  public  defence.  Their  territories  were 
repeatedly  alienated,  and,  as  well  as  the  immense  sums 
raised  by  the  sale  of  papal  indulgences  for  the  prosecu- 
tion of  the  Moorish  war,  were  lavished  on  the  royal 
satellites." 

But  perhaps  the  most  crying  evil  of  this  period  was 
the  shameless  adulteration  of  the  coin.  Instead  of  five 
royal  mints,  which  formerly  existed,  there  were  now 
one  hundred  and  fifty  in  the  hands  of  authorized  indi- 
viduals, who  debased  the  coin  to  such  a  deplorable 
extent  that  the  most  common  articles  of  life  were 
enhanced  in  value  three,  four,  and  even  six  fold. 
Those  who  owed  debts  eagerly  anticipated  the  season 
of  payment;  and,  as  the  creditors  refused  to  accept  it 
in  the  depreciated  currency,  it  became  a  fruitful  source 
of  litigation  and  tumult,  until  the  whole  nation  seemed 
on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy.     In  this  general  license, 

"  Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  cap.  35. — Sempcre,  Hist,  del 
Luxo,  torn.  i.  p.  183. — Idem,  Hist,  des  Cortes,  ch.  19. — Marina,  Teoria, 
part.  I,  cap.  20, — part.  2,  pp.  390,  391. — Zuniga,  Analcs  de  Sevilla, 
pp.  346,  349. — The  papal  bulls  of  crusade  issued  on  these  occasions, 
says  Palencia,  contained  among  other  indulgences  an  exemption  from 
the  pains  and  penalties  of  purgatory,  assuring  to  the  soul  of  the  pur- 
chaser, after  death,  .in  immediate  translation  into  a  state  of  glory.  Some 
of  the  more  orthodox  casuists  doubted  the  validity  of  such  a  bull.  But 
it  was  decided,  after  due  examination,  that,  as  the  holy  father  possessed 
plenary  power  of  absolution  of  all  offences  committed  upon  earth,  and 
as  purgatory  is  situated  upon  earth,  it  properly  fell  within  his  jurisdic- 
tion, (cap.  32.)  Bulls  of  crusade  were  sold  at  the  rate  of  200  mara- 
vedis  each ;  and  it  is  computed  by  the  same  historian  that  no  less  than 
4,000,000  maravedis  were  amassed  by  this  traffic  in  Castile  in  the  space 
of  four  years ! 


It  'i  i  ^5' 


I 


i68 


CASTILE   UNDER  HENRY  IV. 


the  right  of  the  strongest  was  the  only  one  which  could 
make  itself  heard.  The  nobles,  converting  their  castles 
into  dens  of  robbers,  plundered  the  property  of  the 
traveller,  which  was  afterwards  sold  publicly  in  the 
cities.  One  of  these  robber  chieftains,  who  held  an  im- 
portant command  on  the  frontiers  of  Murcia,  was  in  the 
habit  of  carrying  on  an  infamous  traffic  with  the  Moors 
by  selling  to  them  as  slaves  the  Christian  prisoners, 
of  either  sex,  whom  he  had  captured  in  his  marauding 
expeditions.  When  subdued  by  Henry,  after  a  sturdy 
resistance,  he  wae  again  received  into  favor,  and  rein- 
stated in  his  possessions.'  The  pusillanimous  monarch 
knew  neither  when  to  pardon  nor  when  to  punish. 

But  no  part  of  Henry's  conduct  gave  such  umbrage 
to  his  nobles  as  the  facility  with  which  he  resigned  him- 
self to  the  control  of  favorites,  whom  he  had  create  1 
as  it  were  from  nothing,  and  whom  he  advanced  over 
the  heads  of  the  ancient  aristocracy  of  the  land.  Among 
those  especially  disgusted  by  this  proceeding  were  Juan 
Pacheco,  marquis  of  Villena,  and  Alfonso  Carillo,  arch- 
bishop of  Toledo.  These  two  personages  exercised  so 
important  an  influence  over  the  destinies  of  Henry  as 
to  deserve  more  particular  notice.  The  former  was  of 
noble  Portuguese  extraction,  and  originally  a  page  in 
the  service  of  the  constable  Alvaro  de  Luna,  by  whom 
he  had  been  introduced  into  the  household  of  Prince 
Henry  during  the  lifetime  of  John  the  Second.  His 
polished  and  plausible  address  soon  acquired  him  a 
complete  ascendency  over  the  feeble  mind  of  his  master, 
who  was  guided  by  his  pernicious  counsels  in  his  fre- 

9  Saez,  Monedas  de  Enrique  IV.  (Madrid,  1805),  pp.  2-5. — Alonso 
de  Palencia,  Cor6nica,  MS.,  cap.  36,  39. — Castillo,  Cronica,  cap.  19. 


MARRIAGE  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


169 


quent  dissensions  with  his  father.  His  invention  was 
ever  busy  in  devising  intrigues,  which  he  recommended 
by  his  subtile,  insinuating  eloquence;  and  he  seemed 
to  prefer  the  attainment  of  his  purposes  by  a  crooked 
rather  than  by  a  direct  policy,  even  when  the  latter 
might  equally  well  have  answered.  He  sustained  re- 
verses with  imperturbable  composure ;  and,  when  his 
schemes  were  most  successful,  he  was  willing  to  risk  all 
for  the  excrement  of  a  new  revolution.  Although 
naturally  humane,  and  without  violent  or  revengeful 
passions,  his  restless  spirit  was  perpetually  involving 
his  country  in  all  the  disasters  of  civil  war.  He  was 
created  marquis  of  Villena  by  John  the  Second ;  and 
his  ample  domains,  lying  on  the  confines  of  Toledo, 
Murcia,  and  Valencia,  and  embracing  an  immense 
extent  of  populous  and  well-fortified  territory,  made 
him  the  most  powerful  vassal  in  the  kingdom." 

His  uncle,  the  archbishop  of  Toledo,  was  of  a  sterner 
character.  He  was  one  of  those  turbulent  prelates,  not 
unfrequent  in  a  rude  age,  who  seem  intended  by  nature 
for  the  camp  rather  than  the  church.  He  was  fierce, 
haughty,  intractable;  and  he  was  supported  in  the  exe- 
cution of  his  ambitious  enterprises  no  less  by  his  un- 

10  Pulgar,  Claros  Varones,  tit.  6. — Castillo,  Cronica,  cap.  15. — Men- 
doza,  Monarquia  de  Espana,  torn.  i.  p.  328. — The  ancient  marquisate 
of  Villena,  having  been  incorporated  into  the  crown  of  Castile,  devolved 
to  Prince  Henry  of  Aragon,  on  his  maniage  with  the  daughter  of  John 
II.  It  was  subsequently  confiscated  by  that  monarch,  in  consequence 
of  the  repeated  rebellions  of  Prince  Henry ;  and  the  title,  together  with 
a  large  proportion  of  the  domains  originally  attached  to  it,  was  con- 
ferred on  Don  Juan  Pacheco,  by  whom  it  was  transmitted  to  his  son, 
afterwards  raised  to  the  rank  of  duke  of  Escalona,  in  the  reign  of  Isa- 
bella. Salazar  de  Mendoza,  Dignidades  dc  Castilla  y  Leon,  lib.  3, 
cap.  12,  17. 


170 


CASTILE   UNDER  HENRY  IV. 


daunted  resolution  than  by  the  extraordinary  resources 
which  he  enjoyed  as  primate  of  Spain.  He  was  capable 
of  warm  attachments,  and  of  making  great  personal 
sacrifices  for  his  friends,  from  whom,  in  return,  he 
exacted  the  most  implicit  deference;  and,  as  he  was 
both  easily  offended  and  implacable  in  his  resentments, 
he  seems  to  have  been  almost  equally  formidable  as  a 
friend  and  as  an  enemy." 

These  early  adherents  of  Henry,  little  satisfied  with 
seeing  their  own  consequence  eclipsed  by  the  rising 
glories  of  the  newly-created  favorites,  began  secretly  to 
stir  up  cabals  and  confederacies  among  the  nobles, 
until  the  occurrence  of  other  circumstances  obviated 
the  necessity,  and  indeed  the  possibility,  of  further 
dissimulation.  Henry  had  been  persuaded  to  take 
part  in  the  internal  dissensions  which  then  agitated  the 
kingdom  of  Aragon,  and  had  supported  the  Catalans  in 
their  opposition  to  their  sovereign  by  seasonable  sup- 
plies of  men  and  money.  He  had  even  made  some 
considerable  conquests  for  himself,  when  he  was  in- 
duced, by  the  advice  of  the  marquis  of  Villena  and  the 
archbishop  of  Toledo,  to  refer  the  arbitration  of  his 
differences  with  the  king  of  Aragon  to  Louis  the 
Eleventh  of  France,  a  monarch  whose  habitual  policy 
allowed  him  to  refuse  no  opportunity  of  interference  in 
the  concerns  of  his  neighbors. 

The  conferences  were  conducted  at  Bayonne,  and 
an  interview  was  subsequently  agreed  oh  between  the 
kings  of  France  and  Castile,  to  be  held  near  that  city, 
on  the  banks  of  the  Bidassoa,  which  divides  the  domin- 

"  Pulgar,  Claros  Varones,  tit.  20. — Bcrnaldez,  Reyes  Cat6licos,  MS., 
cap.  10,  II. 


MARRIAGE  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


171 


ions  of  the  respective  monarchs.  The  contrast  ex- 
hibited by  the  two  princes  at  this  interview,  in  their 
style  of  dress  and  equipage,  was  sufficiently  striking  to 
deserve  notice.  Louis,  who  was  even  worse  attired 
than  usual,  according  to  Comines,  wore  a  coat  of  coarse 
woollen  cloth  cut  short,  a  fashion  then  deemed  very 
unsuitable  to  persons  of  rank,  with  a  doublet  of  fustian, 
and  a  weather-beaten  hat,  surmounted  by  a  little  leaden 
image  of  the  Virgin.  His  imitative  courtiers  adopted 
a  similar  costume.  The  Castilians,  on  the  other  hand, 
displayed  uncommon  magnificence.  The  barge  of  the 
royal  favorite,  Beltran  de  la  Cueva,  was  resplendent  with 
sails  of  cloth  of  gold,  and  his  apparel  glittered  with  a 
profusion  of  costly  jewels.  Henry  was  escorted  by  his 
Moorish  guard  gorgeously  equipped,  and  the  cavaliers  of 
his  train  vied  with  each  other  in  the  sumptuous  decora- 
tions of  dress  and  equipage.  The  two  nations  appear 
to  have  been  mutually  disgusted  with  the  contrast  ex- 
hibited by  their  opposite  affectations.  The  French 
sneered  at  the  ostentation  of  the  Spaniards,  and  the  latter, 
in  their  turn,  derided  the  sordid  parsimony  of  their 
neighbors;  and  thus  the  seeds  of  a  national  aversion 
were  implanted,  which,  under  the  influence  of  more 
important  circumstances,  ripened  into  open  hostility." 
The  monarchs  seem  to  have  separated  with  as  little 
esteem  for  each  other  as  did  their  respective  courtiers ; 
and  Comines  profits  by  the  occasion  to  inculcate  the 
inexpediency  of  such  interviews  between  princes  who 


'»  At  least  these  are  the  important  consequences  imputed  to  this  in- 
ten'iew  by  the  French  writers.  See  Gaillard,  Rivahte,  torn.  iii.  pp. 
241-243. — Comines,  M^moires,  liv.  2,  chap,  8. — Also  Castillo,  Cronica, 
cap.  48,  49. — Zurita,  Anales,  lib.  17,  cap.  50. 


173 


CASTILE   UNDER  HENRY  IV, 


have  exchanged  the  careless  jollity  of  youth  for  the 
cold  and  calculating  policy  of  riper  years.  The  award 
of  Louis  dissatisfied  all  parties ;  a  tolerable  proof  of 
its  impartiality.  The  Castilians,  in  particular,  com- 
plained that  the  marquis  of  Villena  and  the  archbishop 
of  Toledo  had  compromised  the  honor  of  the  nation, 
by  allowing  their  sovereign  to  cross  over  to  the  French 
shore  of  the  Bidassoa,  and  its  interests,  by  the  cession 
of  the  conquered  territory  to  Aragon.  They  loudly 
accused  them  of  being  pensioners  of  Louis, — a  fact 
which  does  not  appear  improbable,  considering  the 
usual  policy  of  this  prince,  who,  as  is  well  known, 
maintained  an  espionage  over  the  councils  of  most  of 
his  neighbors.  Henry  was  so  far  convinced  of  the 
truth  of  these  imputations,  that  he  dismissed  the  ob- 
noxious ministers  from  their  employments. '^ 

The  disgraced  nobles  instantly  set  about  the  organi- 
zation of  one  of  those  formidable  confederacies,  which 
had  so  often  shaken  the  monarchs  of  Castile  upon  their 
throne,  and  which,  although  not  authorized  by  positive 
law,  as  in  Aragon,  seem  to  have  derived  somewhat  of  a 
constitutional  sanction  from  ancient  usage.  Some  of 
the  members  of  this  coalition  were  doubtless  influenced 
exclusively  by  personal  jealousies ;  but  many  others 
entered  into  it  from  disgust  at  the  imbecile  and  arbi- 
trary proceedings  of  ihe  crown. 

*3  Ferreras,  Hist.  d'Espagne,  torn.  ii.  p.  122. — Zurita,  Anales,  lib.  17, 
cap.  56. — Castillo,  Cronica,  cap.  51,  52,  58. — The  queen  of  Aragon, 
who  was  as  skilful  a  diplomatist  as  her  husband,  John  I.,  assailed  the 
vanity  of  Villena  quite  as  much  as  his  interest.  On  one  of  his  mis- 
sions to  her  court,  she  invited  him  to  dine  with  her  tcte-a-tete  at  her 
own  table,  while  during  the  repast  they  were  served  by  the  ladies  of 
the  palace.     Ibid.,  cap.  40. 


MARRIAGE  OF  FERDWAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


173 


In  1462,  the  queen  had  been  delivered  of  a  daughter, 
who  was  named  like  herself  Joanna,  but  who,  from  her 
reputed  father,  Beltran  de  la  Cueva,  was  better  known 
in  the  progress  of  her  unfortunate  history  by  the  cog- 
nomen of  Beltraneja.  Henry,  however,  had  required 
the  usual  oath  of  allegiance  to  be  tendered  to  her  as 
presumptive  heir  to  the  crown.  The  confederates, 
assembled  at  Burgos,  declared  this  oath  of  fealty  a  com- 
pulsory act,  and  that  many  of  them  had  privately  pro- 
tested against  it  at  the  time,  from  a  conviction  of  the 
illegitimacy  of  Joanna.  In  the  bill  of  grievances 
which  they  now  presented  to  the  monarch,  they  re- 
quired that  he  should  deliver  his  brother  Alfonso  into 
their  hands,  to  be  publicly  acknowledged  as  his  suc- 
cessor; they  enumerated  the  manifold  abuses  which 
pervaded  every  department  of  government,  which  they 
freely  imputed  to  the  unwholesome  influence  exercised 
by  the  favorite,  Beltran  de  la  Cueva,  over  the  royal 
counsels,  doubtless  the  true  key  to  much  of  their  patri- 
otic sensibility ;  and  they  entered  into  a  covenant, 
sanctioned  by  all  the  solemnities  of  religion  usual  on 
these  occasions,  not  to  re-enter  the  service  of  their 
sovereign,  or  accept  any  favor  from  him,  until  he  had 
redressed  their  wrongs.^ 

The  king,  who  by  an  efficient  policy  might  perhaps 
have  crushed  these  revolutionary  movements  in  their 
birth,  was  naturally  averse  to  violent,  or  even  vigorous, 

'4  See  the  memorial  presented  to  the  king,  cited  at  length  in  Marina, 
Teoria,  torn.  iii.  Apend.  no.  7. — Castillo,  Cronica,  cap.  58,  64. — Zurita, 
Anales,  lib.  17,  cap.  56. — Lebrija,  Hispanarum  Rerum  Ferdinando 
Rege  et  Elisabe  Regina  Gestarum  decades  (apud  Granatam,  1545), 
lib.  I,  cap.  I,  2. — Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  part,  i,  cap.  6. 
— Bernaldez,  Reyes  Gatolicos,  MS.,  cap.  9. 


174 


CASTILE   UNDER  HENRY  IV. 


I  ''\ 


measures.  He  replied  to  the  bishop  of  Cuenca,  his 
ancient  preceptor,  who  recommended  these  measures, 
"You  priests,  who  are  not  called  to  engage  in  the 
fight,  are  very  liberal  of  the  blood  of  others."  To 
which  the  prelate  rejoined,  with  more  warmth  than 
breeding,  **  Since  you  are  not  true  to  your  own  honor 
at  a  time  like  this,  I  shall  live  to  see  you  the  most  de- 
graded monarch  in  Spain;  when  you  will  repent  too 
late  this  unseasonable  pusillanimity, '"s 

Henry,  unmoved  either  by  the  entreaties  or  remon- 
strances of  his  adherents,  resorted  to  the  milder  method 
of  negotiation.  He  consented  to  an  interview  with 
the  confederates,  in  which  he  was  induced,  by  the 
plausible  arguments  of  the  marquis  of  Villena,  to  com- 
ply with  most  of  their  demands.  He  delivered  his 
brother  Alfonso  into  their  hands,  to  be  recognized  as 
the  lawful  heir  to  the  crown,  on  condition  of  his  sub- 
sequent union  with  Joanna;  and  he  agreed  to  nominate, 
in  conjunction  with  his  opponents,  a  commission  of 
five,  who  should  deliberate  on  the  state  of  the  king- 
dom, and  provide  an  effectual  reform  of  abuses.'*  The 
result  of  this  deliberation,  however,  proved  so  prejudi- 
cial to  the  royal  authority,  that  the  feeble  monarch  was 
easily  persuaded  to  disavow  the  proceedings  of  the 
commissioners,  on  the  ground  of  their  secret  collusion 
with  his  enemies,  and  even  to  attempt  the  seizure  of 
their  persons.  The  confederates,  disgusted  with  this 
breach  of  faith,  and  in  pursuance,  perhaps,  of  their 

»S  Castillo,  Cronica,  cap.  65. 

I*  See  copies  from  the  original  instruments,  which  are  still  preserved 
in  the  archives  of  tlie  house  of  Villena,  in  Marina,  Teoria,  torn,  ii: 
part.  2,  Ap.  6,  8. — Castillo,  Cr6nica,  cap.  66,  67. — Alonso  de  Palencia 
Cor6nica,  MS.,  part,  i,  cap.  57. 


MARRIAGE  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


175 


original  design,  instantly  decided  on  the  execution  of 
that  bold  measure  which  some  writers  denounce  as  a 
flagrant  act  of  rebellion,  and  others  vindicate  as  a  just 
and  constitutional  proceeding. 

In  an  open  plain,  not  far  from  the  city  of  Avila, 
they  caused  a  scaffold  to  be  erected,  of  sufficient  ele- 
vation to  be  easily  seen  from  the  surrounding  country. 
A  chair  of  state  was  placed  on  it,  and  in  this  was  seated 
an  effigy  of  King  Henry,  clad  in  sable  robes  and 
adorned  with  all  the  insignia  of  royalty,  a  sword  at  its 
side,  a  sceptre  in  its  hand,  and  a  crown  upon  its  head. 
A  manifesto  was  then  read,  exhibiting  in  glowing  colors 
the  tyrannical  conduct  of  the  king,  and  the  conse- 
quent determination  to  depose  him ;  and  vindicating 
the  proceeding  by  several  precedents  drawn  from  the 
history  of  the  monarchy.  The  archbishop  of  Toledo 
then,  ascending  the  platform,  tore  the  diadem  from 
the  head  of  the  statue;  the  marquis  of  Villena  re- 
moved the  sceptre,  the  count  of  Placencia  the  sword, 
the  grand  master  of  Alcantara  and  the  counts  of  Bena- 
vente  and  Paredes  the  rest  of  the  regal  insignia ;  when 
the  image,  thus  despoiled  of  its  honors,  was  rolled  in 
the  dust,  amid  the  mingled  groans  and  clamors  of  the 
spectators.  The  young  prince  Alfonso,  at  that  time 
only  eleven  years  of  age,  was  seated  on  the  vacant 
throne,  and  the  assembled  grandees  severally  kissed  his 
hand  in  token  of  their  homage;  the  trumpets  an- 
nounced the  completion  of  the  ceremony,  and  the 
populace  greeted  with  joyful  acclamations  the  accession 
of  their  new  sovereign.''  (1465.) 


'7  Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  part,  i,  cap.  62.- 
Cronica,  cap.  68,  69,  74 


-Castillo, 


176 


CASTILE    UNDER  HENRY  IV. 


Such  are  the  details  of  this  extraordinary  transaction, 
as  recorded  by  the  two  contemporary  historians  of  the 
rival  factions.  The  tidings  were  borne,  with  the  usual 
celerity  of  evil  news,  to  the  remotest  parts  of  the  king- 
dom. The  pulpit  and  the  forum  resounded  with  the 
debates  of  disputants,  who  denied,  or  defended,  the 
right  of  the  subject  to  sit  in  judgment  on  the  conduct 
of  his  sovereign.  Every  man  was  compelled  to  choose 
his  side  in  this  strange  division  of  the  kingdom.  Henry 
received  intelligence  of  the  defection,  successively,  of 
the  capital  cities  of  Burgos,  Toledo,  Cordova,  Seville, 
together  with  a  large  part  of  the  southern  provinces, 
where  lay  the  estates  of  some  of  the  most  powerful 
partisans  of  the  opposite  faction.  The  unfortunate 
monarch,  thus  deserted  by  his  subjects,  abandoned  him- 
self to  despair,  and  expressed  the  extremity  of  his  an- 
guish in  the  strong  language  of  Job :  "  Naked  came  I 
from  my  mother's  womb,  and  naked  must  I  go  down 
to  the  earth! '"8 

A  large — probably  the  larger — part  of  the  nation, 
however,  disapproved  of  the  tumultuous  proceedings 
of  the  confederates.  However  much  they  contemned 
the  person  of  the  monarch,  they  were  not  prepared  to 
see  the  royal  authority  thus  openly  degraded.  They 
indulged,  too,  some  compassion  for  a  prince  whose 
political  vices,  at  least,  were  imputable  to  mental  in- 
capacity, and  to  evil  counsellors,  rather  than  to  any 
natural  turpitude  of  heart.  Among  the  nobles  who 
adhered  to  him,  the  most  conspicuous  were  "the  good 
count  of  Haro,"  and  the  powerful  family  of  Mendoza, 

'8  Alonso  de  P.alencia,  Cor6nica,  MS.,  part,  i,  cap.  63,  70. — Castillo, 
Cr6nica,  cap.  75,  76. 


MARRIAGE  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


177 


the  worthy  scions  of  an  illustrious  stock.  The  estates 
of  the  marquis  of  Santillana,  the  head  of  this  house, 
lay  chiefly  in  the  Asturias,  and  gave  him  a  considerable 
influence  in  the  northern  provinces,''  the  majority  of 
whose  inhabitants  remained  constant  in  their  attachment 
to  the  royal  cause. 

When  Henry's  summons,  therefore,  was  issued  for 
the  attendance  of  all  his  loyal  subjects  capable  of  bear- 
ing arms,  it  was  answered  by  a  formidable  array  of 
numbers,  that  must  have  greatly  exceeded  that  of  his 
rival,  and  which  is  swelled  by  his  biographer  to  seventy 
thousand  foot  and  fourteen  thousand  horse;  a  much 
smaller  force,  under  the  direction  of  an  efficient  leader, 
would  doubtless  have  sufficed  to  extinguish  the  rising 
spirit  of  revolt.  But  Henry's  temper  led  him  to  adopt 
a  more  conciliatory  policy,  and  to  try  what  could  be 
effected  by  negotiation,  before  resorting  to  arms.  In 
the  former,  however,  he  was  no  match  for  the  con- 
federates, or  rather  the  marquis  of  Villena,  their  repre- 
sentative on  these  occasions.    This  nobleman,  who  had 


'9  The  celebrated  marquis  of  Santillana  died  in  1458,  at  the  age  of 
sixty.  (Sanchez,  Poesias  Castellanas,  torn.  i.  p.  23.)  The  title  de- 
scended to  his  eldest  son,  Diego  Hurtado  de  Mendoza,  who  is  repre- 
sented by  his  contemporaries  to  have  been  worthy  of  his  sire.  Like 
him,  he  was  imbued  with  a  love  of  letters;  he  was  conspicuous  for  his 
magnanimity  and  chivalrous  honor,  his  moderation,  constancy,  and 
uniform  loyalty  to  his  sovereign, — virtues  of  rare  worth  in  those  rapa- 
cious and  turbulent  times.  (Pulgar,  Claros  Varones,  tit.  9.)  Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella  created  him  duke  del  Infantado.  This  domain 
derives  its  name  from  its  having  been  once  the  patrimony  of  the  in- 
fantes of  Castile.  See  Salazar  de  Mendoza,  Monarquia,  tom.  i.  p, 
219, — and  Dignidades  de  Castilla,  lib.  3,  cap.  17. — Oviedo,  Quin- 
cuagenas,  MS.,  bat.  i,  quinc.  i,  dial.  8. 
Vol.  I.— 12  H* 


•  > 


178 


CASTILE    UNDER  HENRY  IV. 


w  :< 


SO  zealously  co-operated  with  his  party  in  conferring 
the  title  of  king  on  Alfonso,  had  intended  to  reserve 
the  authority  to  himself.  He  probably  found  more 
difficulty  in  controlling  the  operations  of  the  jealous 
and  aspiring  aristocracy,  with  whom  he  was  associated, 
than  he  had  imagined ;  and  he  was  willing  to  aid  the 
opposite  party  in  maintaining  a  sufficient  degree  of 
strength  to  form  a  counterpoise  to  that  of  the  con- 
federates, and  thus,  while  he  made  his  own  services 
the  more  necessary  to  the  latter,  to  provide  a  safe 
retreat  for  himself,  in  case  of  the  shipwreck  of  their 
fortunes.* 

In  conformity  with  this  dubious  policy,  he  had,  soon 
after  the  occurrence  at  Avila,  opened  a  secret  corre- 
spondence with  his  former  master,  and  suggested  to 
him  the  idea  of  terminating  their  differences  by  some 
amicable  adjustment.  In  consequence  of  these  inti- 
mations, Henry  consented  to  enter  into  a  negotiation 
with  the  confederates ;  and  it  was  agreed  that  the  forces 
on  both  sides  should  be  disbanded,  and  that  a  suspen- 
sion of  hostilities  for  six  months  should  take  place, 
during  which  some  definitive  and  permanent  scheme  of 
reconciliation  might  be  devised.  Henry,  in  compli- 
ance with  this  arrangement,  instantly  disbanded  his 
levies;  they  retired  overwhelmed  with  indignation  at 
the  conduct  of  their  sovereign,  who  so  readily  relin- 
quished the  only  means  of  redress  that  he  possessed, 
and  whom  they  now  saw  it  would  be  unavailing  to 
assist,  since  he  was  so  ready  to  desert  himself." 

"0  Alonso  de  Palencia,  Cor6nica,  MS.,  part,  i,  cap.  64. — Castillo, 
Cronica,  cap.  78. 
"  Castillo,  Cr6nica,  cap.  80,  82. 


I  t 
% 
t 

\ 

i 


MARRIAGE  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


179 


It  would  be  an  unprofitable  task  to  attempt  to  unravel 
all  the  fine-spun  intrigues  by  which  the  marquis  of 
Villena  contrived  to  defeat  every  attempt  at  an  ulti- 
mate accommodation  between  the  parties,  until  he  was 
very  generally  execrated  as  the  real  source  of  the  dis- 
turbances in  the  kingdom.  In  the  mean  while,  the 
singular  spectacle  was  exhibited  of  two  monarchs  pre- 
siding over  one  nation,  surrounded  by  their  respective 
courts,  administering  the  laws,  convoking  cortes,  and 
in  fine  assuming  the  state  and  exercising  all  the  func- 
tions of  sovereignty.  It  was  apparent  that  this  state 
of  things  could  not  last  long,  and  that  the  political 
ferment  which  now  agitated  the  minds  of  men  from 
one  extremity  of  the  kingdom  to  the  other,  and  which 
occasionally  displayed  itself  in  tumults  and  acts  of  vio- 
lence, would  soon  burst  forth  with  all  the  horrors  of  a 
civil  war. 

At  this  juncture,  a  proposition  was  made  to  Henry 
for  detaching  the  powerful  family  of  Pacheco  from  the 
interests  of  the  confederates,  by  the  marriage  of  his 
sister  Isabella  with  the  brother  of  the  marquis  of  Vi- 
llena, Don  Pedro  Giron,  grand  master  of  the  order  of 
Calatrava,  a  nobleman  of  aspiring  views,  and  one  of  the 
most  active  partisans  of  his  faction.  The  archbishop 
of  Toledo  would  naturally  follow  the  fortunes  of  his 
nephew,  and  thus  the  league,  deprived  of  its  principal 
supports,  must  soon  crumble  to  pieces.  Instead  of  re- 
senting this  proposal  as  an  affront  upon  his  honor,  the 
abject  mind  of  Henry  was  content  to  purchase  repose 
even  by  the  most  humiliating  sacrifice.  He  acceded 
to  the  conditions;  application  was  made  to  Rome  for 
a  dispensation  from  the  vows  of  celibacy  imposed  on 


i8o 


CASTILE   UXDER  HENRY  IV. 


the  grand  master  as  the  companion  of  a  religious  order; 
and  splendid  preparations  were  instantly  commenced 
for  the  approaching  nuptials." 

Isabella  was  then  in  her  sixteenth  year.  On  her 
father's  death,  she  retired  with  her  mother  to  the  little 
town  of  Arevalo,  where,  in  seclusion,  and  far  from  the 
voice  of  flattery  and  falsehood,  she  had  been  permitted 
to  unfold  the  natural  graces  of  mind  and  person,  which 
might  have  been  blighted  in  the  pestilent  atmosphere 
of  a  court.  Here,  under  the  maternal  eye,  she  was 
carefully  instructed  in  those  lessons  of  practical  piety, 
and  in  the  deep  reverence  for  religion,  which  distin- 
guished her  maturer  years.  On  the  birth  of  the  princess 
Joanna,  she  was  removed,  together  with  her  brother 
Alfonso,  by  Henry  to  the  royal  palace,  in  order  more 
effectually  to  discourage  the  formation  of  any  faction 
adverse  to  the  interests  of  his  supposed  daughter.  In 
this  abode  of  pleasure,  surrounded  by  all  the  seductions 
most  dazzling  to  youth,  she  did  not  forget  the  early 
lessons  that  she  had  imbibed ;  and  the  blameless  purity 
of  her  conduct  shone  with  additional  lustre  amid  the 
scenes  of  levity  and  licentiousness  by  which  she  was 
surrounded.  ** 

The  near  connection  of  Isabella  with  the  crown,  as 
well  as  her  personal  character,  invited  the  application 
of  numerous  suitors.  Her  hand  was  first  solicited  for 
that  very  Ferdinand  who  was  destined  to  be  her  future 


«  Rades  y  Andrada,  Chronica  de  las  tres  Ordenes  y  Cavallerias 
(Toledo,  1572),  fol.  76. — Castillo,  Cronica,  cap.  85. — Alanso  de  Pa- 
lencia,  Cor6nica,  MS.,  part.  i.  cap.  73. 

»3  L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  154. — Florez,  Reynas  Catho- 
licas,  torn.  ii.  p.  789. — Castillo,  CnSnica,  cap.  37. 


MARRIAGE  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA.   i8l 


husband,  though  not  till  after  the  intervention  of  many 
inauspicious  ( ircumstances.  She  was  next  betrothed  to 
his  elder  brother,  Carlos,  and  some  years  after  his 
decease,  when  thirteen  years  of  age,  was  promised  by 
Henry  to  Alfonso  of  Portugal.  Isabella  was  present 
with  her  brother  at  a  personal  interview  with  that 
monarch  in  1464,  but  neither  threats  nor  entreaties 
could  indiice  her  to  accede  to  a  union  so  unsuitable 
from  the  disparity  of  their  years ;  and  with  her  char- 
acteristic discretion,  even  at  this  early  age,  she  rested 
her  refusal  on  the  ground  that  "the  infantas  of  Castile 
could  not  be  disposed  of  in  marriage  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  nobles  of  the  realm.  "'^ 

When  Isabella  understood  in  what  manner  she  was 
now  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  selfish  policy  of  her  brother, 
in  the  prosecution  of  which  compulsory  measures,  if 
necessary,  were  to  be  employed,  she  was  filled  with  the 
liveliest  emotions  of  grief  and  resentment.  The  master 
of  Calatrava  was  well  known  as  a  fierce  and  turbulent 
leader  of  faction,  and  his  private  life  was  stained  with 
most  of  the  licentious  vices  of  the  age.  He  was  even 
accused  of  having  invaded  the  privacy  of  the  queen 
dowager,  Isabella's  mother,  by  proposals  of  the  most 
degrading  nature, — an  outrage  which  the  king  had 
either  not  the  power  or  not  the  inclination  to  resent. 's 
With  this  person,  then,  so  inferior  to  her  in  birth,  and 
so  much  more  unworthy  of  her  in  every  other  point  of 
view,  Isabella  was  now  to  be  united.    On  receiving  the 

'4  Aleson,  Anales  de  Nav.arra,  torn.  iv.  pp.  561,  562. — Zurita,  Anales, 
lib.  16,  cap.  46, — lib.  17,  cap.  3. — Castillo,  Cr6nica,  cap.  31,  57. — Alonso 
de  Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  cap.  55. 

25  Decad.  de  Palencia,  apud  Mem.  de  la  Acad,  de  Hist.,  torn.  vi.  p, 
65,  nota. 


I82 


CASTILE   UNDER  HENRY  IV. 


I!   I 


intelligence,  she  confined  herself  to  her  apartment, 
abstaining  from  all  nourishment  and  sleep  for  a  day 
and  night,  says  a  contemporary  writer,  and  imploring 
Heaven,  in  the  most  piteous  manner,  to  save  her  from 
this  dishonor  by  her  own  death  or  that  of  her  enemy. 
As  she  was  bewailing  her  hard  fate  to  her  faithful  friend, 
Beatriz  de  Bobadilla,  "God  will  not  permit  it,"  ex- 
claimed the  high-spirited  lady,  "neither  will  I;"  then, 
drawing  forth  a  dagger  from  her  bosom,  which  she 
kept  there  for  the  purpose,  she  solemnly  vowed  to 
plunge  it  in  the  Iveart  of  the  master  of  Calatrava  as 
soon  as  he  appeared  !** 

Happily  her  loyalty  was  not  put  to  so  severe  a  test. 
No  sooner  had  the  grand  master  received  the  bull  of 
dispensation  from  the  pope,  than,  resigning  his  digni- 
ties in  his  military  order,  he  set  about  such  sumptuous 
preparations  for  his  wedding  as  were  due  to  the  rank 
of  his  intended  bride.  When  these  were  completed, 
he  began  his  journey  from  his  residence  at  Almagro  to 
Madrid,  where  the  nuptial  ceremony  was  to  be  per- 
formed, attended  by  a  splendid  retinue  of  friends  and 
followers.  But,  on  the  very  first  evening  after  his  de- 
parture, he  was  attacked  by  an  acute  disorder  while  at 
Villarubia,  a  village  not  far  from  Ciudad  Real,  which 
terminated  his  life  in  four  days.     He  died,  says  Palen- 


!*  Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  cap.  73. — Mariana,  Hist,  de 
Espana,  torn.  ii.  p.  450. — Garibay,  Compendio,  torn.  ii.  p.  532. — This 
lady,  Dofia  Beatriz  Fernandez  de  Bobadilla,  the  most  intimate  per- 
sonal friend  of  Isabella,  will  appear  often  in  the  course  of  our  narrative. 
Gonzalo  de  Oviedo,  who  knew  her  well,  describes  her  as  "  illustrating 
her  generous  lineage  by  her  conduct,  which  was  wise,  virtuous,  and 
valiant."  (i^uincuagenas,  MS.,  dial,  de  Cabrera.)  The  last  epithet, 
rather  singular  for  a  female  character,  was  not  unmerited. 


MARRIAGE  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


183 


cia,  with  imprecations  on  his  lips,  because  his  life  had 
not  been  spared  some  few  weeks  longer.^  His  death 
was  attributed  by  many  to  poison,  administered  to  him 
by  some  of  the  nobles,  who  were  envious  of  his  good 
fortune.  But,  notwithstanding  the  seasonableness  of 
the  event,  and  the  familiarity  of  the  crime  in  that  age, 
no  shadow  of  imputation  was  ever  cast  on  the  pure 
fame  of  Isabella.'*  (1466.) 

The  death  of  the  grand  master  dissipated,  at  a  blow, 
all  the  fine  schemes  of  the  marquis  of  Villena,  as  well 
as  every  hope  of  reconciliation  between  the  parties. 
The  passions  which  had  been  only  smothered  now  burst 
forth  into  open  hostility;  and  it  was  resolved  to  refer 
the  decision  of  the  question  to  the  issue  of  a  battle. 
The  two  armies  met  on  the  plains  of  Olmedo,  where, 
two-and-twenty  years  before,  John,  the  father  of  Henry, 
had  been  in  like  manner  confronted  by  his  insurgent 
subjects.  The  royal  army  was  considerably  the  larger ; 
but  the  deficiency  of  numbers  in  the  other  was  amply 

27  Palencia  imputes  his  death  to  an  attack  of  the  quinsy.  Cor6nica, 
MS.,  cap.  73. 

2^  Rades  y  Andrada,  Las  tres  Ordenes,  fol.  jj. — Caro  de  Torres, 
Historia  de  las  Ordenes  militares  de  Santiago  Calatrava  y  Alcantara 
(Madrid,  1629),  lib.  2,  cap.  59. — Castillo,  Cr6nica,  cap.  85. — Alonso  de 
Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  cap.  73. — Gaillard  remarks  on  this  event, 
"Chacun  crut  sur  cette  mort  ce  qu'il  voulut."  And  again  in  a  few 
pages  after,  speaking  of  Isabella,  he  says,  "  On  remarqua  que  tous  ceux 
qui  pouvoient  faire  obstacle  ii  la  satisfaction  ou  k  la  fortune  disabelle, 
mouroient  toujours  \  propos  pour  elle."  (Rivalite,  tom.  iii.  pp.  280, 
286.)  This  ingenious  writer  is  fond  of  seasoning  his  style  with  those 
piquant  sarcasms  in  which  oftentimes  more  is  meant  than  meets  the 
ear,  and  which  Voltaire  rendered  fashionable  in  history.  I  doubt, 
however,  if,  amid  all  the  heats  of  controversy  and  faction,  there  is  a 
single  Spanish  writer  of  that  age,  or  indeed  of  any  subsequent  one, 
who  has  ventured  to  impute  to  the  contrivance  of  Isabella  any  one  of 
the  fortunate  coincidences  to  which  the  author  alludes. 


I   ; 


t84 


CASriLE    UNDER   HENRY  IV. 


supplied  by  the  intrepid  spirit  of  its  leaders.  The 
archbishop  of  Toledo  appeared  at  the  head  of  its 
squadrons,  conspicuous  by  a  rich  scarlet  mantle,  em- 
broidered with  a  white  cross,  thrown  over  his  armor. 
The  young  prince  Alfonso,  scarcely  fourteen  years  of 
age,  rode  by  his  side,  clad  like  him  in  complete  mail. 
Before  the  action  commenced,  the  archbishop  sent  a 
message  to  Beltran  de  la  Cueva,  then  raised  to  the  title 
of  duke  of  Albuquerque,  cautioning  him  not  to  venture 
in  the  field,  as  no  less  than  forty  cavaliers  had  sworn 
his  death.  The  gallant  nobleman,  who,  on  this  as  on 
some  other  occasions,  displayed  a  magnanimity  which 
in  some  degree  excused  the  partiality  of  his  master, 
returned  by  the  envoy  a  particular  description  of  the 
dress  he  intended  to  wear, — a  chivalrous  defiance  which 
wellnigh  cost  him  his  life.  Henry  did  not  care  to  ex- 
pose his  person  in  the  engagement,  and,  on  receiving 
erroneous  intelligence  of  the  discomfiture  of  his  party, 
retreated  precipitately  with  some  thirty  or  forty  horse- 
men to  the  shelter  of  a  neighboring  village.  The  action 
lasted  three  hours,  until  the  combatants  were  separated 
by  the  shades  of  evening,  without  either  party  having 
decidedly  the  advantage,  although  that  of  Henry  re- 
tained possession  of  the  field  of  battle.  The  archbishop 
of  Toledo  and  Prince  Alfonso  were  the  last  to  retire ; 
and  the  former  was  seen  repeatedly  to  rally  his  broken 
squadrons,  notwithstanding  his  arm  had  been  pierced 
through  with  a  lance  early  in  the  engagement.  The 
king  and  the  prelate  may  be  thought  to  have  exchanged 
characters  in  this  tragedy.^  (1467.) 

=9  Lebrija,  Rerum  Geslarum  Decades,  lib.  i,  cap.  2. — Zurita,  Anales, 
lib.  18,  cap.  10. — Castillo,  Cronica,  cap.  93,  97. — Alonso  de  Palencia, 
Coronica,  MS.,  part,  i,  cap.  80. 


MARRIAGE  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


1S5 


The  battle  was  attended  with  no  result,  except  that 
of  inspiring  appetites  which  had  tasted  of  blood  with 
a  relish  for  more  unlicensed  carnage.  The  most  fright- 
ful anarchy  now  prevailed  throughout  the  kingdom, 
dismembered  by  factions,  which  the  extreme  youth  of 
one  monarch  and  the  imbecility  of  the  other  made  it 
impossible  to  control.  In  vain  did  the  papal  legate, 
who  had  received  a  commission  to  that  effect  from  his 
master,  interpose  his  mediation,  and  even  fulminate 
sentence  of  excommunication  against  the  confederates. 
The  independent  barons  plainly  told  him  that  *'  those 
who  advised  the  pope  that  he  had  a  right  to  interfere 
in  the  temporal  concerns  of  Castile  deceived  him ;  and 
that  they  had  a  perfect  right  to  depose  their  monarch 
on  sufficient  grounds,  and  should  exercise  it. "3° 

Every  city,  nay,  almost  every  family,  became  now 
divided  within  itself.  In  Seville  and  in  Cordova,  the 
inhabitants  of  one  street  carried  on  open  war  against 
those  in  another.  The  churches,  which  were  fortified, 
and  occupied  with  bodies  of  armed  men,  were  many 
of  them  sacked  and  burnt  to  the  ground.  In  Toledo 
no  less  than  four  thousand  dwellings  were  consumed  in 
one  general  conflagration.  The  ancient  family  feuds, 
as  those  between  the  great  houses  of  Guzman  and 
Ponce  de  Leon  in  Andalusia,  being  revived,  carried 
new  division  into  the  cities,  whose  streets  literally  ran 
with  blood. 3'     In  the  country,  the  nobles  and  gentry, 


30  Alonso  de  Palcncia,  Coronica,  MS.,  cap.  82. 

3>  Zuiiiga,  Anales  de  Sevilla,  pp.  351,  352. — Carta  del  Levantami- 
ento  de  Toledo,  apud  Castillo,  Cronica,  p.  109. — The  historian  of 
Seville  has  quoted  an  animated  apostrophe  addressed  to  the  citizens 
by  one  of  their  number  in  this  season  of  discord : 


:    U 


i86 


CASTILE    UNDER  HENRY  IV. 


issuing  from  their  castles,  captured  the  defenceless 
traveller,  who  was  obliged  to  redeem  his  liberty  by  the 
payment  of  a  heavier  ransom  than  was  exacted  even  by 
the  Mahometans.  All  communication  on  the  highroads 
was  suspended,  and  no  man,  says  a  contemporary,  dared 
move  abroad  beyond  the  walls  of  his  city,  u.iless  at- 
tended by  an  armed  escort.  The  organization  of  one 
of  those  popular  confederacies  known  under  the  name 
of  Hermandad,  in  1465,  which  continued  in  operation 
during  the  remainder  of  this  gloomy  period,  brought 
some  mitigation  to  these  evils,  by  the  fearlessness  with 
which  it  exercised  its  functions,  even  against  offenders 
of  the  highest  rank,  some  of  whose  castles  were  razed 
to  the  ground  by  its  orders.  But  this  relief  was  only 
partial ;  and  the  successful  opposition  which  the  her- 
mandad  sometimes  encountered  on  these  occasions 
served  to  aggravate  the  horrors  of  the  scene.  Mean- 
while, fearful  omens,  the  usual  accompaniments  of 
such  troubled  times,  were  witnessed ;  the  heated  ima- 
gination interpreted  the  ordinary  operations  of  nature 
as  signs  of  celestial  wrath ;  ^  and  the  minds  of  men 
were  filled  with  dismal  bodings  of  some  inevitable  evil, 


"  Mezquina  Sevilla  en  la  sangre  banada 
de  los  tus  fijos,  i  tus  cavalleros, 
que  fado  enemigo  te  tiene  minguada,"  etc. 

The  poem  concludes  with  a  summons  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of 
their  oppressors : 

"  Despierta  Sevilla  e  Siicude  el  imperio, 
que  faze  a  tus  nobles  tanto  vituperio." 
See  Anales,  p.  359. 

32  "  Quod  in  pace  fors,  seu  natura,  tunc  fatum  et  ira  dei  vocabatur," 
says  Tacitus  (Historiae,  lib.  4,  cap.  26),  adverting  to  a  similar  state  of 
excitement. 


MARRIAGE  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


187 


like  that  which  overwhelmed  the  monarchy  in  the  days 
of  their  Gothic  ancestors. ^3 

At  this  crisis,  a  circumstance  occurred  which  gave  a 
new  face  to  affairs,  and  totally  disconcerted  the  opera- 
tions of  the  confederates.  This  was  the  loss  of  their 
young  leader,  Alfonso,  who  was  found  dead  in  his  bed, 
on  the  5th  of  July,  1468,  at  the  village  of  Cardefiosa, 
about  two  leagues  from  Avila,  which  had  so  recently 
been  the  theatre  of  his  glory.  His  sudden  death  was 
imputed,  in  the  usual  suspicious  temper  of  that  corrupt 
age,  to  poison,  supposed  to  have  been  conveyed  to  him 
in  a  trout  on  which  he  dined  the  day  preceding. 
Others  attributed  it  to  the  plague,  which  had  followed 
in  the  train  of  evils  that  desolated  this  unhappy  coun- 
try. Thus  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  and  after  a  brief  reign, 
if  reign  it  may  be  called,  of  three  years,  perished  this 
young  prince,  who,  under  happier  auspices  and  in 
maturer  life,  might  have  ruled  over  his  country  with  a 
wisdom  equal  to  that  of  any  of  its  monarchs.  Even 
in  the  disadvantageous  position  in  which  he  had  been 
placed,  he  gave  clear  indications  of  future  excellence. 
A  short  time  before  his  death,  he  was  heard  to  remark, 
on  witnessing  the  oppressive  acts  of  some  of  the  nobles, 
"  I  must  endure  this  patiently  until  I  am  a  little  older." 
On  another  occasion,  being  solicited  by  the  citizens 
of  Toledo  to  approve  of  some  act  of  extortion  which 
they  had  committed,  he  replied,  **God  forbid  I  should 

33  Saez  quotes  a  MS.  letter  of  a  contemporary,  exhibiting  a  frightful 
picture  of  these  disorders.  (Monedas  de  Enricjue  IV.,  p.  i,  note. — 
Castillo,  Cr6nica,  cap.  83,  87,  et  passim. — Mariana,  Hist,  de  Espaiia, 
torn.  ii.  p.  451. — Marina,  Teoria,  torn.  ii.  p.  487. — Alonso  de  Palencia, 
Coronica,  MS.,  part,  i,  cap.  69.)  The  active  force  kept  on  duty  by 
the  hermandad  amounted  to  3000  horse.     Ibid.,  cap.  89,  90. 


m 
m 


1 88 


CASTILE   UNDER  HENRY  IV. 


countenance  such  injustice  !"  And  on  being  told  that 
the  city,  in  that  case,  would  probably  transfer  its  alle- 
giance to  Henry,  he  added,  **  Much  as  I  love  power,  I 
am  not  willing  to  purchase  it  at  such  a  price."  Noble 
sentiments,  but  not  at  all  palatable  to  the  grandees  of 
his  party,  who  saw  \Yith  alarm  that  the  young  lion, 
when  he  had  reached  his  strength,  would  be  likely 
to  burst  the  bonds  with  which  they  bad  enthralled 
him.  3* 

It  is  not  easy  to  consider  the  reign  of  Alfonso  in 
any  other  light  than  that  of  a  usurpation ;  although 
some  Spanish  writers,  and  among  the  rest  Marina,  a 
competent  critic  when  not  blinded  by  prejudice,  regard 
him  as  a  rightful  sovereign,  and  as  such  to  be  enrolled 
among  the  monarchs  of  Castile. ^s  Marina,  indeed, 
admits  the  ceremony  at  Avila  to  have  been  originally 
the  work  of  a  faction,  and  in  itself  informal  and  un- 
constitutional ;  but  he  considers  it  to  have  received  a 
legitimate  sanction  from  its  subsequent  recognition  by 
the  people.  But  I  do  not  find  that  the  deposition  of 
Henry  the  Fourth  was  ever  confirmed  by  an  act  of 
cortes.  He  still  continued  to  reign  with  the  consent  of 
a  large  portion,  probably  the  majority,  of  his  subjects ; 
and  it  is  evident  that  proceedings  so  irregular  as  those  at 
Avila  could  have  no  pretence  to  constitutional  validity, 
without  a  very  general  expression  of  approbation  on  the 
part  of  the  nation. 

The  leaders  of  the  confederates  were  thrown  into 
consternation  by  an  event  which  threatened  to  dissolve 


34  Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  cap.  87,  92. — Castillo,  Cr6- 
nica,  cap.  94. — Garibay,  Compendlo,  lib.  17,  cap.  20. 

35  Marina,  Teoria,  part.  2,  cap.  38. 


MARRIAGE   OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA.   189 

their  league  and  to  leave  them  exposed  to  the  resent- 
ment of  an  offended  sovereign.  In  this  conjuncture, 
they  naturally  turn^  1  their  eyes  on  Isabella,  whose  dig- 
nified and  commanding  character  might  counterbalance 
the  disadvantages  arising  from  the  unsuitableness  of  her 
sex  for  so  perilous  a  situation,  and  justify  her  election 
in  the  eyes  of  the  people.  She  had  continued  in  the 
family  of  Henry  during  the  greater  part  of  the  civil 
war ;  until  the  occupation  of  Segovia  by  the  insurgents, 
after  the  battle  of  Olmedo,  enabled  her  to  seek  the 
protection  of  her  younger  brother  Alfonso,  to  which 
she  was  the  more  inclined  by  her  disgust  with  the 
license  of  a  court  where  the  love  of  pleasure  scorned 
even  the  veil  of  hypocrisy.  On.  the  death  of  her 
brother,  she  withdrew  to  a  monastery  at  Avila,  where 
she  was  visited  by  the  archbishop  of  Toledo,  who,  in 
behalf  of  the  confederates,  requested  her  to  occupy 
the  station  lately  filled  by  Alfonso,  and  allow  herself  to 
be  proclaimed  queen  of  Castile.  ^^ 

Isabella  discerned  too  clearly,  however,  the  path  of 
duty  and  probably  of  interest.  She  unhesitatingly  re- 
fused the  seductive  proffer,  and  replied  that,  "while 
her  brother  Henry  lived,  none  other  had  a  right  to  the 
crown  ;  that  the  country  had  been  divided  long  enough 
under  the  rule  of  two  contending  monarchs  3  and  that 
the  death  of  Alfonso  might  perhaps  be  interpreted  into 
an  indication  from  Heaven  of  its  disapprobation  of 
their  cause."  She  expressed  herself  desirous  of  es- 
tablishing a  reconciliation  between  the   parties,  and 

36  Lebrija,  Rerum  Gestarum  Decades,  lib.  i,  cap.  3.  —  Alonso  de 
Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  part,  i,  cap.  92. — Florez,  Reynas  Catholi- 
cas,  torn.  ii.  p.  790. 


■a 


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I 


'!■  Mi     :)l 


190 


CASTILE   UNDER  HENRY  IV. 


offered  heartily  to  co-operate  with  her  brother  in  the 
reformation  of  existing  abuses.  Neither  the  eloquence 
nor  entreaties  of  the  primate  could  move  her  from  her 
purpose ;  and  when  a  deputation  from  Seville  announced 
to  her  that  that  city,  in  common  with  the  rest  of  An- 
dalusia, had  unfurled  its  standards  in  her  name  and 
proclaimed  her  sovereign  of  Castile,  she  still  persisted 
in  the  same  wise  and  temperate  policy.^ 

The  confederates  were  not  prepared  for  this  mag- 
nanimous act  from  one  so  young,  and  in  opposition  to 
the  advice  of  her  most  venerated  counsellors.  No  alter- 
native remained,  however,  but  that  of  negotiating  an 
accommodation  on  the  best  terms  possible  with  Henry, 
whose  facility  of  temper  and  love  of  repose  naturally 
disposed  him  to  an  amicable  adjustment  of  his  differ- 
ences. With  these  dispositions,  a  reconciliation  was 
effected  between  the  parties  on  the  following  condi- 
tions :  namely,  that  a  general  amnesty  should  be  granted 
by  the  king  for  all  past  offences ;  that  the  queen,  whose 
dissolute  conduct  was  admitted  to  be  matter  of  noto- 
riety, should  be  divorced  from  her  husband  and  sent 
back  to  Portugal ;  that  Isabella  should  have  the  princi- 
pality of  the  Asturias  (the  usual  demesne  of  the  heir 
apparent  to  the  crown)  settled  on  her,  together  with  a 
specific  provision  suitable  to  her  rank ;  that  she  should 
be  immediately  recognized  heir  to  the  crowns  of  Cas- 
tile and  Leon ;  that  a  cortes  should  be  convoked  within 
forty  days  for  the  purpose  of  bestowing  a  legal  sanction 
on  her  title,  as  well  as  of  reforming  the  various  abuses  of 

37  Lebrija,  Rerum  Gestarum  Decades,  lib.  i,  cap.  3. — Ferreras,  Hist. 
d'Espagne,  torn.  vii.  p.  218. — Alonso  de  Falencia,  Coronica,  part,  i, 
cap.  92, — part.  2,  cap.  5. 


MARRIAGE  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


191 


government ;  and,  finally,  that  Isabella  should  not  be 
constrained  to  marry  in  opposition  to  her  own  wishes, 
nor  should  she  do  so  without  the  consent  of  her  brother.^^ 
In  pursuance  of  these  arrangements,  an  interview 
took  place  between  Henry  and  Isabella,  each  attended 
by  a  brilliant  cortege  of  cavaliers  and  nobles,  at  a  place 
called  Toros  de  Guisando,^  in  New  Castile.  (Sept.  9, 
1468.)  The  monarch  embraced  his  sister  with  the 
tenderest  marks  of  affection,  and  then  proceeded 
solemnly  to  recognize  her  as  his  future  and  rightful 
heir.  An  oath  of  allegiance  was  repeated  by  the  at- 
tendant nobles,  who  concluded  the  ceremony  by  kissing 
the  hand  of  the  princess  in  token  of  their  homage.  In 
due  time  the  representatives  of  the  nation,  convened 
in  cortes  at  Ocafia,  unanimously  concurred  in  their 
approbation  of  these  preliminary  proceedings,  and  thus 
Isabella  was  announced  to  the  world  as  the  lawful  suc- 
cessor to  the  crowns  of  Castile  and  Leon.^° 

38  See  a  copy  of  the  original  compact  cited  at  length  by  Marina, 
Teoria,  Apend.  no.  11. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  part,  i,  cap.  2. 

39  So  called  from  four  bulls,  sculptured  in  stone,  discovered  there, 
with  Latin  inscriptions  thereon,  indicating  it  to  have  been  the  site  of 
one  of  Julius  Ccesar's  victories  during  the  civil  war,  (Estrada,  Pobla- 
cion  general  de  Espana  (Madrid,  1748),  torn.  i.  p.  306.) — Galindez  de 
Carbajal,  a  contemporary,  fixes  the  date  of  this  convention  in  August. 
Anales  del  Rey  Fernando  el  Catolico,  MS.,  ano  1468. 

40  Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  part.  2,  cap.  4. — Castillo, 
Cronica,  cap.  ii8. — Mariana,  Hist,  de  Espana,  tom.  ii.  pp.  461,  462. — 
Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  part,  i,  cap.  2. — Castillo  affirms  that  Henry, 
incensed  by  his  sister's  refusal  of  the  king  of  Portugal,  dissolved  the 
cortes  at  Ocana  before  it  had  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  her. 
(Cronica,  cap.  127.)  This  assertion,  however,  is  counterbalanced  by 
the  opposite  one  of  Pulgar,  a  contemporary  writer  like  himself.  (Reyes 
Catolicos,  cap.  5.)  And  as  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  in  a  letter  ad- 
dressed, after  their  marriage,  to  Henry  IV.,  transcribed  also  by  Cas- 


m 

m 


m 


b    I 


192 


CASTILE    UNDER  HENRY  IV. 


It  can  hardly  be  believed  that  Henry  was  sincere  in 
subscribing  conditions  so  humiliating;  nor  can  his  easy 
and  lethargic  temper  account  for  his  so  readily  relin- 
quishing the  pretensions  of  the  princess  Joanna,  whom, 
notwithstanding  the  popular  imputations  on  her  birth, 
he  seems  always  to  have  cherished  as  his  own  offspring.* 

tillo,  allude  incidentally  to  such  a  recognition  as  to  a  well-known  fact, 
the  balance  of  testimony  must  be  admitted  to  be  in  favor  of  it.  See 
Castillo,  Cronica,  cap.  114. 


*  [It  is,  however,  asserted  in  a  document  dated  November  27,  1470, 
that  Henry  had  twice  confessed  the  iliCgitimacy  of  Juana  and  taken 
a  solemn  oath  to  that  effect.  (See  the  Protest  of  Diego  Ferrandes  de 
Quinones,  conde  de  Luna,  when  summoned  by  Henry  IV.  to  swear 
fealty  to  the  princess  Juana,  Colecclon  de  Documentos  ineditos  para 
la  Historia  de  Espaiia,  torn,  xiv.)  This  testimony  is,  perhaps,  insuffi- 
cient; but  it  is  at  least  evident  that,  on  the  occasions  referred  to,  Henry, 
by  consenting  to  recognize  first  Alfonso,  and  subsequently  Isabella,  as 
rightful  heir  to  the  crown,  abandoned  the  claims  of  Juana  and  gave 
an  implied  sanction  to  the  popular  belief  in  regard  to  her  paternity. 
Such  an  act,  if  it  sprang  from  mere  weakness,  would  leave  the  historical 
question  unsetUed ;  but  it  certainly  justified  the  action  of  the  cortes  and 
also  the  course  of  Isabella  in  asserting  her  right  to  the  succession.  Yet 
Kergenroth,  in  speaking  of  these  events,  says,  'The  history  of  this 
usurpation  is  one  of  the  most  disgraceful  on  record.  .  .  .  Isabel  branded 
the  heiress  to  the  throne  with  the  disparaging  name  of  la  Deltraneja, 
forced  her  to  flee,  and  seated  herself  on  the  throne  of  Castile."  (Sup- 
plement to  Volume  I.  and  Volume  II.  of  Letters,  Despatches,  and  State 
Papers,  Introduction,  p.  x.xvii.)  Isabella,  however,  was  not  the  first  to 
assert  the  illegitimacy  of  Juana,  nor  was  the  assertion  originally  made 
in  her  interest.  On  the  contrary,  it  had  given  rise  to  a  civil  war  at  a 
time  when  she  could  take  no  part  in  the  dispute  and  had  no  claim 
which  could  be  affected  by  the  decision.  The  claim  which  devolved 
upon  her  on  the  death  of  Alfonso  was  established,  while  she  still  re- 
mained passive,  by  a  treaty  to  which  the  sovereign  was  a  party  and 
which  was  ratified  by  the  representatives  of  the  nation.  How,  then, 
can  her  assertion  of  it  after  Henry's  death  be  considered  an  act  of 
usurpation  ? — Ed.] 


MARRIAGE  OF  FERDLVAXD  AND  ISABELLA. 


*93 


He  was  accused,  even  while  actually  signing  the  treaty, 
of  a  secret  collusion  with  the  marcjuis  of  Villena  for 
the  purpose  of  evading  it, — an  accusation  which  derives 
a  plausible  coloring  from  subsequent  events. 

The  new  and  legitimate  basis  on  which  the  preten- 
sions of  Isabella  to  the  throne  now  rested  drew  the 
attention  of  neighboring  princes,  who  contended  with 
each  other  for  the  honor  of  her  hand.  Among  these 
suitors  was  a  brother  of  Edward  the  Fourth  of  England, 
not  improbably  Richard,  duke  of  Gloucester,  since  Clar- 
ence was  then  engaged  in  his  intrigues  with  the  earl  of 
Warwick,  which  led  a  few  months  later  to  his  marriage 
with  the  daughter  of  that  nobleman.  Had  she  listened 
to  his  proposals,  the  duke  would  in  all  likelihood  have 
exchange!  his  residence  in  England  for  Castile,  where 
his  ambition,  satisfied  with  the  certain  reversion  of  a 
crown,  might  have  been  spared  the  commission  of  the 
catalogue  of  crimes  which  blackens  his  memory.'^' 

Another  suitor  was  the  duke  of  Guienne,  the  unfor- 

41  Isabella,  who  in  a  letter  to  Henry  IV.,  dated  Oct.  12th,  1469, 
adverts  to  these  proposals  of  the  English  prince,  as  being  under  con- 
sideration at  the  time  of  the  convention  of  Toros  de  Guisaijdo,  does 
not  specify  which  of  the  brothers  of  Edward  IV.  was  intended.  (Cas- 
tillo, Cronica,  cap.  136.) — Mr.  Turner,  in  his  History  of  England  during 
the  Middle  Ages  (London,  1825),  quotes  part  of  the  address  delivered 
by  the  Spanish  envoy  to  Richard  III.,  in  1483,  in  which  the  orator 
speaks  of  "the  unkindness  which  his  queen  Isabella  had  conceived  fc.i 
Edward  IV.,  for  his  refusal  of  her,  and  his  taking  instead  to  wife  a 
widow  of  England."  (Vol.  iii.  p.  274.)  The  old  chronicler  Hall,  on 
the  other  hand,  mentions  that  it  was  currently  reported,  although  he 
does  not  appear  to  credit  it,  that  the  earl  of  Warwick  had  been  de- 
spatched into  Spain  in  order  to  request  the  hand  of  the  princess  Isabella 
for  his  master,  Edward  IV.,  in  1463.  (See  his  Chronicle  of  England 
(London,  1809),  pp.  263,  264.) — I  find  nothing  in  the  Spanish  accounts 
of  that  period  which  throws  any  light  on  those  obvious  contradictions. 
Vol.  I. — 13  1 


m\ 


t  ^  'It- 1. 


194 


CASTILE   UNDER  HENRY  IV, 


^ 


■1   'A 


\ 


I! 


tunate  brother  of  Louis  the  Eleventh,  and  at  that  time 
the  presumptive  heir  of  the  French  monarchy.  Although 
the  ancient  intimacy  which  subsisted  between  the  royal 
families  of  France  and  Castile  in  some  measure  favored 
his  pretensions,  the  disadvantages  resulting  from  such 
a  union  were  too  obvious  to  escape  attention.  The  two 
countries  were  too  remote  from  each  other,*"  and  their 
inhabitants  too  dissimilar  in  character  and  institutions, 
to  permit  the  idea  of  their  ever  cordially  coalescing  as 
one  people  under  a  common  sovereign.  Should  the 
duke  of  Guienne  fail  in  the  inheritance  of  the  crown, 
it  was  argued,  he  would  be  every  way  an  unequal  match 
for  the  heiress  of  Castile;  should  he  succeed  to  it,  it 
might  be  feared  that,  in  case  of  a  union,  the  smaller 
kingdom  would  be  considered  only  as  an  appendage, 
and  sacrificed  to  the  interests  of  the  larger.^^ 

The  person  on  whom  Isabella  turned  the  most  favor- 
able eye  was  her  kinsman  Ferdinand  of  Aragon.  The 
superior  advantages  of  a  connection  which  should  be 
the  means  of  uniting  the  people  of  Aragon  and  Castile 
into  one  nation  were  indeed  manifest.  They  were  the 
descendants  of  one  common  stock,  speaking  one  lan- 
guage, and  living  under  the  influence  of  similar  insti- 
tutions, which  had  moulded  them  into  a  common 
resemblance  of  character  and  manners.  From  their 
geographical  position,  too,  they  seemed  destined  by 
nature  to  be  one  nation;  and,  while  separately  they 

♦•TTie  territories  of  France  and  Castile  touched,  indeed,  on  one 
point  (Guipuscoci),  but  were  scixiratcd  along  the  whole  remaining  line 
of  frontier  by  the  kingdoms  of  Aragon  and  Navarre. 

43  Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  cap.  8. — Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica 
MS.,  part.  3,  cap.  10. 


MARRIAGE  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


»9S 


were  condemned  to  the  rank  of  petty  and  subordinate 
states,  they  might  hope,  when  consolidated  into  one 
monarchy,  to  rise  at  once  to  the  first  class  of  European 
powers.  While  arguments  of  this  public  nature  pressed 
on  the  mind  of  Isabella,  she  was  not  insensible  to  those 
which  most  powerfully  aflect  the  female  heart.  Ferdi- 
nand was  then  in  the  bloom  of  life,  and  distinguished 
for  the  comeliness  of  his  person.  In  the  busy  scenes  in 
which  he  had  been  engaged  from  his  boyhood,  he  had 
displayed  a  chivalrous  valor,  combined  with  maturity 
of  judgment  far  above  his  years.  Indeed,  he  was  de- 
cidedly superior  to  his  rivals  in  personal  merit  and 
attractions.^  But,  while  private  inclinations  thus  hap- 
pily coincided  with  considerations  of  expediency  for 
inclining  her  to  prefer  the  Aragonese  match,  a  scheme 
was  devised  in  another  quarter  for  the  express  purpose 
of  defeating  it. 

A  fraction  of  the  royal  party,  with  the  family  of 
Mendoza  at  their  head,  had  retired  in  disgust  with  the 
convention  of  Toros  de  Guisando,  and  openly  espoused 
the  cause  of  the  princess  Joanna.   They  even  instructed 

44  Isabella,  in  order  to  acquaint  herself  more  intimately  with  the  per- 
sonal qualities  of  her  respective  suitors,  had  privately  despatched  her 
confidential  chaplain,  Alonso  de  Coca,  to  the  courts  of  France  and  of 
Aragon,  and  his  report  on  his  return  was  altogether  favorable  to  Ferdi- 
nand. The  duke  of  Guienne  he  represented  as  "  a  feeble,  effeminate 
prince,  with  limbs  so  emaciated  as  to  be  almost  deformed,  and  with 
eyes  so  weak  and  watery  as  to  incapacitate  him  for  the  ordinary  exer- 
cises of  chivalry ;  while  Ferdinand,  on  the  other  hand,  was  possessed 
of  a  comely,  symmetrical  figure,  a  graceful  demeanor,  and  a  spirit  that 
was  up  to  any  thing;"  tnui  dispuesto para  toda  cosa  que  hacer  quisiese. 
It  is  not  improbable  that  the  queen  of  Aragon  condescended  to  prac- 
tise some  of  those  agreeable  arts  on  the  worthy  chaplain  which  made 
so  sensible  an  impression  on  the  marquis  of  Villena. 


iSlt  ■• 


w 


196 


CASTILE   UNDER  HENRY  IV. 


her  to  institute  an  appeal  before  the  tribunal  of  the 
supreme  pontiff,  and  caused  a  placard,  exhibiting  a 
protest  against  the  validity  of  the  late  proceedings,  to 
be  nailed  secretly  in  the  night  to  the  gate  of  Isabella's 
mansion. ^5  Thus  were  sown  the  seeds  of  new  dissen- 
sions, before  the  old  were  completely  eradicated.  With 
this  disaffected  party  the  marquis  of  Villena,  who,  since 
his  reconciliation,  had  resumed  his  ancient  ascendency 
over  Henry,  now  associated  himself.  Nothing,  in  the 
opinion  of  this  nobleman,  could  be  more  repugnant  to 
his  interests  than  the  projected  union  between  the 
houses  of  Castile  and  Aragon ;  to  the  latter  of  which, 
as  already  noticed,**  once  belonged  the  ample  domains 
of  his  own  marquisate,  which  he  imagined  would  be 
held  by  a  very  precarious  tenure  should  any  of  this 
family  obtain  a  looting  in  Castile. 

In  the  hope  of  counteracting  this  project,  he  endeav- 
ored to  revive  the  obsolete  pretensions  of  Alfonso,  king 
of  Portugal;  and,  the  more  effectually  to  secure  the 
co-operation  of  Henry,  he  connected  with  his  scheme 
a  proposition  for  marrying  his  daughter  Joanna  with 
the  son  and  heir  of  the  Portuguese  monarch ;  and  thus 
this  unfortunate  princess  might  be  enabled  to  assume  at 
once  a  station  suitable  to  her  birth,  and  at  some  future 
opportunity  assert  with  success  her  claim  to  the  Cas- 
tilian  crown.  In  furtherance  of  this  complicated  in- 
trigue, Alfonso  was  invited  to  renew  his  addresses  to 
Isabella  in  a  more  public  manner  than  he  had  hitherto 
done;  and  a  pompous  embassy,  with  the  archbishop 
of  Lisbon  at  its  head,  appeared  at  Ocini,  where  Isa- 

45  Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  part.  2,  cap.  5. 

46  See  ante,  note  10. 


MARRIAGE   OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


197 


bella  was  then  residing,  bearing  the  proposals  of  their 
master.  The  princess  returned,  as  before,  a  decided 
though  temperate  refusal/'  Henry,  or  rather  the  mar- 
quis of  Villena,  piqued  at  this  opposition  to  his  wishes, 
resolved  to  intimidate  her  into  compliance,  and  menaced 
her  with  imprisonment  in  the  royal  fortress  at  Madrid. 
Neither  her  tears  nor  entreaties  would  have  availed  against 
this  tyrannical  proceeding;  and  the  marquis  was  only 
deterred  from  putting  it  in  execution  by  his  fear  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Ocana,  who  openly  espoused  the  cause 
of  Isabella.  Indeed,  the  common  people  of  Castile 
very  generally  supported  her  in  her  preference  of  the 
Aragonese  match.  Boys  paraded  the  streets,  bearing 
banners  emblazoned  with  the  arms  of  Aragon,  and  sing- 
ing verses  prophetic  of  the  glories  of  the  auspicious 
union.  They  even  assembled  round  the  palace  gates, 
and  insulted  the  ears  of  Henry  and  his  minister  by  the 
repetition  of  satirical  stanzas  which  contrasted  Alfonso's 
years  with  the  youthful  graces  of  Ferdinand.*^  Not- 
withstanding this  popular  expression  of  opinion,  how- 
ever, the  constancy  of  Isabella  might  at  length  have 
yielded  to  the  importunity  of  her  persecutors,  had  she 
not  been  encouraged  by  her  friend  the  archbishop  of 
Toledo,  who  had  warmly  entered  into  the  interests  of 
Aragon,  and  who  promised,  should  matters  come  to 
extremity,  to  march  in  person  to  her  relief  at  the  head 
of  a  sufficient  force  to  insure  it.   (1469.) 


f 


47  Faria  y  Sousa,  Europa  Portuguesa,  torn.  ii.  p.  391. — Castillo,  Cr6- 
nica,  cap.  121,  127. — Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  part.  2,  cap. 
7. — Lcbrija,  Rerum  Gestarum  Decades,  lib.  i,  cap.  7. 

*8  Bemaldez,  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS.,  cap.  7. — Alonso  de  Palencia, 
Cor6nica,  MS.,  part  2,  cap.  7. 


igS 


CASTILE   UNDER  HENRY  IV. 


Isabella,  indignant  at  the  oppressive  treatment  which 
she  experienced  from  her  brother,  as  well  as  at  his 
notorious  infraction  of  almost  every  article  in  the  treaty 
of  Toros  de  Guisando,  felt  herself  released  from  her 
corresponding  engagements,  and  determined  to  con- 
clude the  negotiations  relative  to  her  marriage  without 
any  further  deference  to  his  opinion.  Before  taking 
any  decisive  step,  however,  she  was  desirous  of  ob- 
taining the  concurrence  of  the  leading  nobles  of  her 
party.  This  was  effected  without  difficulty,  through 
the  intervention  of  the  archbishop  of  Toledo,  and  of 
Don  Frederick  Henriquez,  admiral  of  Castile,  and  the 
maternal  grandfather  of  Ferdinand ;  a  person  of  high 
consideration,  both  from  his  rank  and  character,  and 
connected  by  blood  with  the  principal  families  in  the 
kingdom.**  Fortified  by  their  approbation,  Isabella 
dismissed  the  Aragonese  envoy  with  a  favorable  answer 
to  his  master's  suit.s° 

Her  reply  was  received  with  almost  as  much  satis- 
faction by  the  old  king  of  Aragon,  John  the  Second, 
as  by  his  son.  This  monarch,  who  was  one  of  the 
shrewdest  princes  of  his  time,  had  always  been  deeply 
sensible  of  the  importance  of  consolidating  the  scat- 
tered monarchies  of  Spain  under  one  head.  He  had 
solicited  the  hand  of  Isabella  for  his  son  when  she 
possessed  only  a  contingent  reversion  of  the  crown. 
But,  when  her  succession  had  been  settled  on  a  more 
secure  basis,  he  lost  no  time  in  effecting  this  favorite 

«  Pulgar,  Claros  Varones,  tit.  2. 

so  L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  154. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv. 
fol.  162. — Alonso  de  Palencia,  Cor6nica,  MS.,  part.  2,  cap.  7. — Pulgar, 
Reyes  Cat6]icos,  cap.  9. 


^^ 


MARRIAGE  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


199 


object  of  his  policy.  With  the  consent  of  the  states, 
he  had  transferred  to  his  son  the  title  of  king  of 
Sicily,  and  associated  him  with  himself  in  the  govern- 
ment at  home,  in  order  to  give  him  greater  consequence 
in  the  eyes  of  his  mistress.  He  then  despatched  a 
confidential  agent  into  Castile,  with  instructions  to  gain 
over  to  his  interests  all  who  exercised  any  influence 
on  the  mind  of  the  princess ;  furnishing  him  for  this 
purpose  with  cartes  blanches,  signed  by  himself  and 
Ferdinand,  which  he  was  empowered  to  fill  at  his  dis- 
cretion.** 

Between  parties  thus  favorably  disposed  there  was  no 
unnc-^'";ssary  delay.  The  marriage  articles  were  signed, 
ana  s  n  to  by  Ferdinand  at  Cervera  on  the  7th  of 
Janu  .'%  1469.  He  promised  faithfully  to  respect  the 
laws  and  usages  of  Castile ;  to  fix  his  residence  in  that 
kingdom,  and  not  to  quit  it  without  the  consent  of 
Isabella;  to  alienate  no  property  belonging  to  the 
crown;  to  prefer  no  foreigners  to  municipal  offices, 
and  indeed  to  make  no  appointments  of  a  civil  or  mili- 
tary nature,  without  her  consent  and  approbation ;  and 
to  resign  to  her  exclusively  the  right  of  nomination  to 
ecclesiastical  benefices.  All  ordinances  of  a  public 
nature  were  to  be  subscribed  equally  by  both.  Ferdi- 
nand engaged,  moreover,  to  prosecute  the  war  against 
the  Moors;  to  respect  King  Henry;  to  suffer  every 
noble  to  remain  unmolested  in  the  possession  of  his 
dignities;  and  not  to  demand  restitution  of  the  domains 
formerly  owned  by  his  father  in  Castile.  The  treaty 
concluded  with  a  specification  of  a  magnificent  dower 


S'  Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  157,  163, 


20O 


CASTILE   UNDER  HENRY  IV. 


to  be  settled  on  Isabella,  far  more  ample  than  that 
usually  assigned  to  the  queens  of  Aragon.s"  The  cir- 
cumspection of  the  framers  of  this  instrument  is  apparent 
from  the  various  provisions  introduced  into  it  solely  to 
calm  the  apprehensions  and  to  conciliate  the  good  will 
of  the  party  disaffected  to  the  marriage;  while  the 
national  partialities  of  the  Castilians  in  general  were 
gratified  by  the  jealous  restrictions  imposed  on  Ferdi- 
nand, and  the  relinquishment  of  all  the  essential  rights 
of  sovereignty  to  his  consort. 

While  these  affairs  were  in  progress,  Isabella's  situa- 
tion was  becoming  extremely  critical.  She  had  availed 
herself  of  the  absence  of  her  brother  and  the  marquis 
of  Villena  in  the  south,  whither  they  had  gone  for  the 
purpose  of  suppressing  the  still  lingering  spark  of  in- 
surrection, to  transfer  her  residence  from  Ocana  to 
Madrigal,  where,  under  the  protection  of  her  mother, 
she  intended  to  abide  the  issue  of  the  pending  nego- 
tiations with  Aragon.  Far,  however,  from  escaping 
the  vigilant  eye  of  the  marquis  of  Villena  by  this  move- 
ment, she  laid  herself  more  open  to  it.  She  found  the 
bishop  of  Burgos,  the  nephew  of  the  marquis,  stationed 
at  Madrigal,  where  he  served  as  an  effectual  spy  upon 
her  actions.  Her  most  confidential  servants  were  cor- 
rupted, and  conveyed  intelligence  of  her  proceedings 
to  her  enemy.  Alarmed  at  the  actual  progress  made  in 
the  negotiations  for  her  marriage,  the  marquis  was  now 
convinced  that  he  could  only  hope  to  defeat  them  by 

S"  See  the  copy  of  the  original  marriage  contract,  as  it  exists  in  the 
archives  of  Simancas,  extracted  in  torn.  vi.  of  Memorias  de  la  Acad,  de 
Hist.,  Apend.  no.  i. — Zurita,  Anales,  lib.  18,  cap.  31. — Ferreras,  Hist. 
d'Espagne,  torn.  vii.  p.  236. 


MARRIAGE  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA.  201 

resorting  to  the  coercive  system  which  he  had  before 
abandoned.  He  accordingly  instructed  the  archbishop 
of  Seville  to  march  at  once  to  Madrigal  with  a  sufficient 
force  to  secure  Isabella's  person ;  and  letters  were  at  the 
same  time  addressed  by  Henry  to  the  citizens  of  that 
place,  menacing  them  with  his  resentment  if  they  should 
presume  to  interpose  in  her  behalf.  The  timid  inhabit- 
ants disclosed  the  purport  of  the  mandate  to  Isabella, 
and  besought  her  to  provide  for  her  own  safety.  This 
was  perhaps  the  most  critical  period  in  her  life.  Be- 
trayed by  her  own  domestics,  deserted  even  by  those 
friends  of  her  own  sex  who  might  have  afforded  her 
sympathy  and  counsel,  but  who  fled  affrighted  from 
the  scene  of  danger,  and  on  the  eve  of  falling  into  the 
snares  of  her  enemies,  she  beheld  the  sudden  extinction 
of  those  hopes  which  she  had  so  long  and  so  fondly 
cherished.  S3 

In  this  exigency,  she  contrived  to  convey  a  knowl- 
edge of  her  situation  to  Admiral  Henriquez  and  the 
archbishop  of  Toledo.  The  active  prelate,  on  receiving 
the  summons,  collected  a  body  of  horse,  and,  rein- 
forced by  the  admiral's  troops,  advanced  with  such 
expedition  to  Madrigal  that  he  succeeded  in  antici- 
pating the  arrival  of  the  enemy.  Isabella  received  her 
friends  with  unfeigned  satisfaction ;  and  bidding  adieu 
to  her  dismayed  guardian,  the  bishop  of  Burgos,  and 
his  attendants,  she  was  borne  off  by  her  little  army  in 
a  sort  of  military  triumph  to  the  friendly  city  of  Valla- 


53  Alonso  de  Palencia,  ConSnica,  MS.,  part.  2,  cap.  12. — Castillo, 
Cronica,  cap.  128, 131, 136. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  162. — Beatri? 
de  Bobadilla  and  Mencia  de  la  Torre,  the  two  ladies  most  in  her  con 
fidence,  had  escaped  to  the  neighboring  town  of  Coca. 


aoa 


CASTILE   UNDER  HENRY  IV. 


dolid,  where  she  was  welcomed  by  the  citizens  with  a 
general  burst  of  enthusiasm.^ 

In  the  mean  time,  Gutierre  de  Cardenas,  one  of  the 
household  of  the  princess,*^  and  Alonso  de  Palencia, 
the  faithful  chronicler  of  these  events,  were  despatched 
into  Aragon  in  order  to  quicken  Ferdinand's  opera- 
tions during  the  auspicious  interval  afforded  by  the 
absence  of  Henry  in  Andalusia.  On  arriving  at  the 
frontier  town  of  Osma,  they  were  dismayed  to  find  that 
the  bishop  of  that  place,  together  with  the  duke  of 
Medina  Celi,  on  whose  active  co-operation  they  had 
relied  for  the  safe  introduction  of  Ferdinand  into  Cas- 
tile, had  been  gained  over  to  the  interests  of  the  mar- 
quis cf  Villena.s*  The  envoys,  however,  adroitly  con- 
cealing the  real  object  of  their  mission,  were  permitted 
to  pass  unmolested  to  Saragossa,  where  Ferdinand  was 
then  residing.  They  could  not  have  arrived  at  a  more 
inopportune  season.  The  old  king  of  Aragon  was  in 
the  very  heat  of  the  war  against  the  insurgent  Catalans, 
headed  by  the  victorious  John  of  Anjou.  Although  so 
sorely  pressed,  his  forces  were  on  the  eve  of  disbanding, 
for  want  of  the  requisite  funds  to  maintain  them.  His 
exhausted  treasury  did  not  contain  more  than  three 

S4  Castillo,  Cr6nica,  cap.  136. — ^Alonso  de  Palencia,  Cor6nica,  MS., 
part.  2,  cap.  12. — Carbajal,  Anales,  MS.,  afio  69. 

ss  This  cavalier,  who  was  of  an  ancient  and  honorable  family  in  Cas- 
tile, was  introduced  to  the  princess's  service  by  the  archbishop  of  Toledo. 
He  is  represented  by  Gonzalo  de  Oviedo  as  a  man  of  much  sagacity 
and  knowledge  of  the  world,  qualities  with  which  he  united  a  steady 
devotion  to  the  interests  of  his  mistress.  Oviedo,  Quincuagenas,  MS., 
bat.  I,  quinc.  2,  dial.  i. 

56  Alonso  de  Palencia,  Cor6nica,  MS.,  cap.  14. — The  bishop  told 
Palencia  that,  "if  his  own  servants  deserted  him,  he  would  oppose  the 
entrance  of  Ferdinand  into  the  kingdom." 


MARRIAGE  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


203 


hundred  enriques.*'  In  this  exigency  he  was  agitated 
by  the  most  distressing  doubts.  As  he  could  spare 
neither  the  funds  nor  the  force  necessary  for  covering 
his  son's  entrance  into  Castile,  he  must  either  send  him 
unprotected  into  a  hostile  country  already  aware  of  his 
intended  enterprise  and  in  arms  to  defeat  it,  01  '  ■  aJidon 
the  long-cherished  object  of  his  policy  at  the  moment 
when  his  plans  were  ripe  for  execution.  Unable  to  ex- 
tricate himself  from  this  dilemma,  he  referred  the  whole 
matter  to  Ferdinand  and  his  council.** 

It  was  at  length  determined  that  the  prince  should 
undertake  the  journey,  accompanied  by  half  a  dozen 
attendants  only,  in  the  disguise  of  merchants,  by  the 
direct  route  from  Saragossa;  while  another  party,  in 
order  to  divert  the  attention  of  the  Castilians,  should 
proceed  in  a  different  direction,  with  all  the  ostentation 
of  a  public  embassy  from  the  king  of  Aragon  to  Henry 
the  Fourth.  The  distance  was  not  great  which  Ferdi- 
nand and  his  suite  were  to  travel  before  reaching  a  place 
of  safety;  but  this  intervening  country  was  patrolled 
by  squadrons  of  cavalry  for  the  purpose  of  intercepting 
their  progress;  and  the  whole  extent  of  the  frontier, 
from  Almazan  to  Guadalajara,  was  defended  by  a  line 
of  fortified  castles  in  the  hands  of  the  family  of  Men- 
doza.s9  The  greatest  circumspection,  therefore,  was 
necessary.  The  party  journeyed  chiefly  in  the  night ; 
Ferdinand  assumed  the  disguise  of  a  servant,  and,  when 


57  Zurita,  Anales,  lib.  18,  cap.  26. — The  enrique  was  a  gold  coin,  so 
<lenominated  from  Henry  II. 

58  Zurita,  Anales,  lib.  i8,  cap.  26. — Abarca,  Reyes  de  Aragon,  torn, 
ii.  p.  273. 

59  Mem.  de  la  Acad,  de  Hist.,  torn.  vi.  p.  78,  Ilust.  2. 


11  li 


iiii  i 


204 


CASTILE    UNDER  HENRY  IV. 


they  halted  on  the  road,  took  care  of  the  mules,  and 
served  his  companions  at  table.  In  this  guise,  with  no 
other  disaster  except  that  of  leavin^,  at  an  inn  the  purse 
which  contained  the  funds  for  the  expedition,  they 
arrived,  late  on  the  second  night,  at  a  little  place  called 
the  Burgo,  or  Borough,  of  Osma,  which  the  count  of 
Trevifio,  one  of  the  partisans  of  Isabella,  had  occupied 
with  a  considerable  body  of  men-at-arms.  On  knock- 
ing at  the  gate,  cold  and  faint  with  travelling,  during 
which  the  prince  had  allowed  himself  to  take  no  repose, 
they  were  saluted  by  a  large  stone  discharged  by  a 
sentinel  from  the  battlements,  which,  glancing  near 
Ferdinand's  head,  had  wellnigh  brought  his  romantic 
enterprise  to  a  tragical  conclusion ;  when  his  voice  was 
recognized  by  his  friends  within,  and,  the  trumpets 
proclaiming  his  arrival,  he  was  received  with  great  joy 
and  festivity  by  the  count  and  his  followers.  The  re- 
mainder of  his  journey,  which  he  commenced  before 
dawn,  was  performed  under  the  convoy  of  a  numerous 
and  well-armed  escort;  and  on  the  9th  of  October  he 
reached  Duefias  in  the  kingdom  of  Leon,  where  the 
Castilian  nobles  and  cavaliers  of  his  party  eagerly 
thronged  to  render  him  the  homage  due  to  his  rank.*" 
The  intelligence  of  Ferdinand's  arrival  diffused  uni- 
versal joy  in  the  little  court  of  Isabella  at  Valladolid. 
Her  first  step  was  to  transmit  a  letter  to  her  brother 
Henry,  in  which  she  informed  him  of  the  presence  of 
the  prince  in  his  dominions,  and  of  their  intended 
marriage.  She  excused  the  course  she  had  taken  by 
the  embarrassments  in  which  she  had  been  involved  by 

*o  Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  part.  2,  cap.  14. — Zurita, 
Anales,  loc.  cit. 


MARRIAGE  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


205 


the  malice  of  her  enemies.  She  represented  the  politi- 
cal advantages  of  the  connection,  and  the  sanction  it 
had  received  from  t)  "^astilian  nobles ;  and  she  con- 
cluded with  soliciting  his  approbation  of  it,  giving  him 
at  the  same  time  affectionate  assurances  of  the  most 
dutiful  submission  on  the  part  both  of  Ferdinand  and 
of  herself.*'  Arrangements  were  then  made  for  an  in- 
terview between  the  royal  pair,  in  which  some  courtly 
parasites  would  fain  have  persuaded  their  mistress  to 
require  some  act  of  homage  from  Ferdinand,  in  token 
of  the  inferiority  of  the  crown  of  Aragon  to  that  of 
Castile ;  a  proposition  which  she  rejected  with  her 
usual  discretion.*" 

Agreeably  to  these  arrangements,  Ferdinand,  on  the 
evening  of  the  15th  of  October,  passed  privately  from 
Dueflas,  accompanied  by  only  four  attendants,  to  the 
neighboring  city  of  Valladolid,  where  he  was  received 
by  the  archbishop  of  Toledo  and  conducted  to  the 
apartment  of  his  mistress. *3  Ferdinand  was  at  this 
time  in  the  eighteenth  year  of  his  age.  His  complex- 
ion was  fair,  though  somewhat  bronzed  by  constant 
exposure  to  the  sun ;  his  eye  quick  and  cheerful ;  his 
forehead  ample,  and  approaching  to  baldness.  His 
muscular  and  well-proportioned  frame  was  invigorated 
by  the  toils  of  war,  and  by  the  chivalrous  exercises  in 

*'  This  letter,  dated  October  12th,  is  cited  at  length  by  Castillo,  Cr6- 
nica,  cap.  136. 

*»  Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  part.  2,  cap.  15. 

*3  Gutierre  de  Cardenas  was  the  first  who  pointed  him  out  to  the 
princess,  exclaiming  at  the  same  time,  "Ese  es,  ese  es,"  "  This  is  he ;" 
in  commemoration  of  which  he  was  permitted  to  place  on  his  es- 
cutcheon the  letters  SS,  whose  pronunciation  in  Spanish  resembles 
that  of  the  exclamation  which  he  had  uttered.  Ibid.,  part.  2,  cap.  15. 
— Oviedo,  Quincuagenas,  MS.,  bat.  i,  quinc.  2,  dial.  i. 


I  r 


s  V 


206 


CASTILE   UNDER  HENRY  IV. 


which  he  delighted.  He  was  one  of  the  best  horsemen 
in  his  court,  and  excelled  in  field  sports  of  every  kind. 
His  voice  was  somewhat  sharp,  but  he  possessed  a  fluent 
eloquence ;  and,  when  he  had  a  point  to  carry,  his  ad- 
dress was  courteous  and  even  insinuating.  He  secured 
his  health  by  extreme  temperance  in  his  diet,  and  by 
such  habits  of  activity  that  it  was  said  he  seemed  to 
find  repose  in  business.**  Isabella  was  a  year  older 
than  her  lover.  In  stature  she  was  somewhat  above 
the  middle  size.  Her  complexion  was  fair ;  her  hair 
of  a  bright  chestnut  color,  inclining  to  red ;  and  her 
mild  blue  eye  beamed  with  intelligence  and  sensibility. 
She  was  exceedingly  beautiful;  "the  handsomest 
lady,"  says  one  of  her  household,  "whom  I  ever  be- 
held, and  the  most  gracious  in  her  manners."^  The 
portrait  still  existing  of  her  in  the  royal  palace  is  con- 
spicuous for  an  open  symmetry  of  features,  indicative  of 
the  natural  serenity  of  temper,  and  that  beautiful  har- 
mony of  intellectual  and  moral  qualities,  which  most 
distinguished  her.  She  was  dignified  in  her  demeanor, 
and  modest  even  to  a  degree  of  reserve.  She  spoke 
the  Castilian  language  with  more  than  usual  elegance, 
and  early  imbibed  a  relish  for  letters,  in  which  she  was 
superior  to  Ferdinand,  whose  education  in  this  partic- 
ular seems  to  have  been  neglected.**    It  is  not  easy  to 

*♦  L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  182. — Garibay,  Compendio, 
lib.  18,  cap.  I. — "  Tan  amigo  de  los  negocios,"  says  Mariana,  "  que 
parecia  con  el  trabajo  descansaba."    Hist,  de  Elspafia,  lib.  25,  cap.  18. 

*s  "  En  hermosura,  puestas  delante  S.  A.  todas  las  mugeres  que  yo 
he  visto,  ninguna  vi  tan  graciosa,  ni  tanto  de  ver  como  su  persona,  ni 
de  tal  manera  e  sanctidad  honestisima."    Oviedo,  Quincuagcnas,  MS. 

*  Bernaldez,  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS.,  cap.  201. — Abarca,  Reyes  de 
Aragon,  torn.  ii.  p.  362. — Garibay,  Compendio,  lib.  18,  cap.  i. 


MARRIAGE  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


207 


obtain  a  dispassionate  portrait  of  Isabella.  The  Span- 
iards who  revert  to  her  glorious  reign  are  so  smitten 
with  her  moral  perfections  that,  even  in  depicting  her 
personal,  they  borrow  somewhat  of  the  exaggerated 
cc    ring  of  romance. 

The  interview  lasted  more  than  two  hours,  when 
Ferdinand  retired  to  his  quarters  at  Dueftas  as  privately 
as  he  came.  The  preliminaries  of  the  marriage,  how- 
ever, wer^:,  first  adjusted  ;  but  so  great  was  the  poverty 
of  the  parties  that  it  was  found  necessary  to  borrow 
money  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  ceremony.*'  Such 
were  ihe  humiliating  circumstances  attending  the  com- 
mencement of  a  union  destined  to  open  the  way  to 
the  highest  prosperity  and  grandeur  of  the  Spanish 
monarchy  1 

The  marriage  between  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  was 
publicly  celebrated,  on  the  morning  of  the  19th  of 
October,  1469,  in  the  palace  of  John  de  Vivero,  the 
temporary  residence  of  the  princess,  and  subsequently 
appropriated  to  the  chancery  of  Valladolid.  The  nup- 
tials were  solemnized  in  the  presence  of  Ferdinand's 
grandfather,  the  admiral  of  Castile,  of  the  archbishop 
of  Toledo,  and  a  multitude  of  persons  of  rank,  as 
well  as  of  inferior  condition,  amounting  in  all  to  no  less 
than  two  thousand.*"  A  papal  bull  of  dispensation  was 
produced  by  the  archbishop,  relieving  the  j)arties  from 
the  impediment  incurred  by  their  falling  within  the 
prohibited  degrees  of  consanguinity.      This  spurious 

*7  Mariana,  Hist,  de  Espaiia,  torn.  ii.  p.  465. 

*8  Carbajal,  Anales,  MS.,  alio  1469. — Alonso  de  Palencia,  Cor6nica, 
MS.,  part.  2,  cap.  16. — Zurita,  Anales,  lib.  18,  cap.  26. — See  a  copy 
of  the  official  record  of  the  marriage,  Mem.  de  la  Acad.,  tom.  vi. 
Apend.  4,    See  also  the  Ilust.  2. 


•08 


CASTILE   UNDER  HENRY  IV. 


document  was  afterwards  discovered  to  have  been  de- 
vised by  the  old  king  of  Aragon,  Ferdinand,  and  the 
archbishop,  who  were  deterred  from  applying  to  the 
court  of  Rome  by  the  zeal  with  which  it  openly  es- 
poused the  interests  of  Henry,  and  who  knew  that 
Isabella  would  never  consent  to  a  union  repugnant  to 
the  canons  of  the  established  church,  and  one  which 
involved  such  heavy  ecclesiastical  censures.  A  genuine 
bull  of  dispensation  was  obtained,  some  years  later, 
from  Sixtus  the  Fourth ;  but  Isabella,  whose  honest 
mind  abhorred  everything  like  artifice,  was  filled  with 
no  little  uneasiness  and  mortification  at  the  discovery 
of  the  imposition.*"  The  ensuing  week  was  consumed 
in  the  usual  festivities  of  this  joyous  season ;  at  the 
expiration  of  which  the  new-married  pair  attended 
publicly  the  celebration  of  mass,  agreeably  to  the 
usage  of  the  time,  in  the  collegiate  church  of  Santa 
Maria.'" 

An  embassy  was  despatched  by  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella to  Henry,  to  acquaint  him  with  their  proceedings, 
and  again  request  his  approbation  of  them.  They  re- 
peated their  assurances  of  loyal  submission,  and  accom- 
panied the  message  with  a  copious  extract  from  such 
of  the  articles  of  marriage  as,  by  their  import,  would 
be  most  likely  to  conciliate  his  favorable  disposition. 

<9  The  intricacies  of  this  affair,  at  once  the  scandal  and  the  stum- 
bling-block of  the  Spanish  historians,  have  been  unravelled  by  Setior 
Clemencin,  with  his  usual  perspicuity.  See  Mem.  de  la  Acad.,  torn. 
vi.  pp.  105-116,  Ilust.  2. 

70  Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  part.  2,  cap.  16. — A  lively 
narrative  of  the  adventures  of  Prince  Ferdinand,  detailed  in  this  chap- 
ter, may  be  found  in  Cushing's  Reminiscences  of  Spain  (Boston,  1833), 
vol.  i.  pp.  225-255. 


MARRIAGE  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


209 


Henry  coldly  replied  that  "he  must  advise  with  his 
ministers. "'' 

7«  Castillo,  Cr6nica,  cap.  i37.~AIonso  de  Palencin,  Cor6nita,  MS., 
part,  a,  cap.  16. 


Gonzalo  Fernandez  de  Oviedo  y  Valdes,  author  of  the  "  Quincua- 
genas"  frequently  cited  in  this  History,  was  lx)m  at  Madrid  in  1478. 
He  was  of  noble  Asturian  descent,  indeed,  every  peasant  in  ne  Astu- 
rias  claims  nobility  as  his  birthright.  At  the  age  of  twelve  he  was  in- 
troduced into  the  royal  palace,  as  one  of  the  pages  of  Prince  John.  II  - 
continued  with  the  court  several  years,  and  was  present,  thoug'"  a  boy, 
in  the  closing  campaigns  of  the  Moorish  war.  In  1514,  according  to 
his  own  statement,  he  embarked  for  the  Indies,  where,  although  he 
revisited  his  native  country  several  times,  he  continued  during  the  re- 
mainder of  his  long  life.  The  time  of  his  death  is  uncertain.  Oviedo 
occupied  several  important  posts  under  the  government,  and  ho  wa; 
appointed  to  one  of  a  literary  nature,  for  which  he  was  well  qualified 
by  his  long  residence  abroad, — that  of  historiographer  of  the  Indies. 
It  was  in  this  capacity  that  he  produced  his  principal  work,  "  Historia 
general  de  las  Indias,"  in  fifty  books.  Las  Casas  denounces  the  book 
as  a  wholesale  fixbrication,  "  as  full  of  lies,  almost,  as  pages."  (CEuvres, 
trad,  de  Llorente,  tom.  i.  p.  382.)  But  Las  Casas  entertained  too  hearty 
an  aversion  for  the  man,  whom  he  publicly  accused  of  rapacity  and 
cruelty,  and  was  too  decidedly  opposed  to  his  ideas  on  the  government 
of  the  Indies,  to  be  a  fair  critic.  Oviedo,  though  somewhat  loose  and 
rambling,  possessed  extensive  stores  of  information,  by  which  those 
who  have  had  occasion  to  follow  in  his  track  have  liberally  profited. 

The  work  with  which  we  are  concerned  is  his  Quino\-.»U'" -^as.  It  is 
entitled  "  Las  Quincuagenas  de  los  generosos  e  ilustres  e  no  menos 
famosos  Reyes,  Principes,  Duques,  Marqueses  y  Condes  et  Caballeros, 
et  Personas  notables  de  Espaiia,  que  cscribio  el  Cn;->uan  Gonzalo  Fer- 
nandez de  Oviedo  y  Valdez,  AlcAide  de  sus  Magisiades  de  la  Fortaleza 
de  la  Cibdad  e  Puerto  de  Sancto  Domingo  ci-  la  Isla  Espaiiola,  Co- 
ronista  de  las  Indias,"  etc.  At  the  close  of  the  third  volume  is  this 
record  of  the  octogenarian  authir:  "Acabe  de  escribir  de  mi  inano 
este  famoso  tractado  de  la  nobleza  de  Espana,  domingo  1°  dia  de 
Pjiscua  de  Pentecostes  XXIII.  dc  mayo  de  1556  aiios.  Laus  Deo.  Y 
de  mi  edad  79  anos."  This  very  curious  work  is  in  the  form  of  dia- 
VOL.  I. — 14 


2TO 


CASTILE   UNDER  HENRY  IV. 


logues,  in  which  the  author  is  the  chief  interlocutor.  It  contains  a  very 
full  and,  indeed,  prolix  notice  of  the  principal  persons  in  Spain,  their 
lineage,  revenues,  and  arms,  with  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  private 
anecdote.  The  author,  who  was  well  acquainted  with  most  of  the  in- 
dividuals of  note  in  his  time,  amused  himself,  during  his  absence  in  the 
New  World,  with  keeping  alive  the  images  of  home  by  this  minute 
record  of  early  reminiscences.  In  this  mass  of  gossip  there  is  a  good 
deal,  indeed,  of  very  little  value.  It  contains,  however,  much  for  the 
illustration  of  domestic  manners,  and  copious  particulars,  as  I  have  in- 
timated, respecting  the  characters  and  habits  of  eminent  personages, 
which  could  have  been  known  only  to  one  familiar  with  them.  On  all 
topics  of  descent  and  heraldry  he  is  uncommonly  full ;  and  one  would 
think  his  services  in  this  department  alone  might  have  secured  him, 
in  a  land  where  these  are  so  much  respected,  the  honors  of  the  press. 
His  book,  however,  still  remains  in  manuscript,  apparently  little  known, 
and  less  used,  by  Castilian  scholars.  Besides  the  three  folio  volumes 
in  the  Royal  Library  at  Madrid,  from  which  the  transcript  in  my  pos- 
session was  obtained,  Clemencin,  whose  commendations  of  this  work, 
as  illustrative  of  Isabella's  reign,  are  unqualified  (Mem.  de  la  Acad, 
de  Hist.,  tom.  vi.  Ilust.  lo),  enumerates  three  others,  two  in  the  king's 
private  library,  and  one  in  that  of  the  Academy. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

FACTIONS    IN    CASTILE. WAR    BETWEEN    FRANCE    AND 

ARAGON. — DEATH   OF   HENRY   IV.    OF   CASTILE. 

I469-I474. 

Factions  in  Castile. — Ferdinand  and  Isabella. — Gallant  Defence  of 
Perpignan  against  the  French. — Ferdinand  raises  the  Siege. — Isa- 
bella's Party  gains  Strength. — Interview  between  King  Henry  IV. 
and  Isabella. — ^The  French  invade  Roussillon. — Ferdinand's  sum- 
mary Justice. — Death  of  Henry  IV.  of  Castile. — Influence  of  his 
Reign. 


The  marriage  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  discon- 
certed the  operations  of  the  marquis  of  Villena,  or,  as 
he  should  be  styled,  the  grand  master  of  St.  James, 
since  he  had  resigned  his  marquisate  to  his  elder  son 
on  his  appointment  to  the  command  of  the  military 
order  above  mentioned,  a  dignity  inferior  only  to  the 
primacy  in  importance.  It  was  determined,  however, 
in  the  councils  of  Henry  to  oppose  at  once  the  preten- 
sions of  the  princess  Joanna  to  those  of  Isabella;  and 
an  embassy  was  gladly  received  from  the  king  of  France, 
offering  to  the  former  lady  the  hand  of  his  brother  the 
duke  of  Guienne,  the  rejected  suitor  of  Isabella.  Louis 
the  Eleventh  was  willing  to  engage  his  relative  in  the 

(211) 


212      TROUBLES  IN  CASTILE  AND  ARAGON. 

unsettled  politics  of  a  distant  state,  in  order  to  relieve 
himself  from  his  pretensions  at  home.' 

An  interview  took  place  between  Henry  the  Fourth 
and  the  French  ambassadors  in  a  little  village  in  the 
vale  of  Lozoya,  in  October,  1470.  A  proclamation  was 
read,  in  which  Henry  declared  his  sister  to  have  for- 
feited whatever  claims  she  had  derived  from  the  treaty 
of  Toros  de  Guisando,  by  marrying  contrary  to  his 
approbation.  He  then  with  his  queen  swore  to  the 
legitimacy  of  the  princess  Joanna,  and  announced  her 
as  his  true  and  lawful  successor.  The  attendant  nobles 
took  the  usual  oaths  of  allegiance;  and  the  ceremony 
was  concluded  by  affiancing  the  princess,  then  in  the 
ninth  year  of  her  age,  with  the  formalities  ordinarily 
practised  on  such  occasions,  to  the  count  of  Boulogne, 
the  representative  of  the  duke  of  Guienne.' 

This  farce,  in  which  many  of  the  actors  were  the 
same  persons  who  performed  the  principal  parts  at  the 
convention  of  Toros  de  Guisando,  had  on  the  whole 
an  unfavorable  influence  on  Isabella's  cause.  It  ex- 
hibited her  rival  to  the  world  as  one  whose  claims  were 

»  Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  part.  2,  cap.  21. — Gaillard, 
Rivalite,  torn.  iii.  p.  284. — Rades  y  Andrada,  Las  tres  Ordenes,  fol.  65. 
— Caro  de  Torres,  Ordenes  militares,  fol.  43. 

2  Oviedo,  Quincuagenas,  MS.,  bat.  i,  quinc.  i,  dial.  23. — Castillo, 
Cronica,  p.  298. — Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  part.  2,  cap.  24. — 
Henry,  well  knowing  how  little  all  this  would  avail  without  the  con- 
stitutional sanction  fif  the  cortes,  twice  issued  his  summons  in  1470  for 
the  convocation  of  ilie  deputies,  to  obtain  a  recognition  of  the  title  of 
Joanna;  but  without  effect.  In  the  letters  of  convocation  issued  for  a 
third  assembly  of  the  states,  in  1471,  this  purpose  was  prudently  omitted, 
and  thus  the  claims  of  Joanna  failed  to  receive  the  countenance  of  the 
only  body  which  could  give  them  validity.  See  the  copies  of  the 
original  writs,  addressed  to  the  cities  of  Toledo  and  Segovia,  cited  by 
Marina,  Teoria,  torn.  ii.  pp.  87-89. 


DEArn   JF  HENRY  IV. 


213 


to  be  supported  by  the  whole  authority  of  the  court  of 
Castile,  with  the  probable  co-operation  of  France. 
Many  of  the  most  considerable  families  in  the  king- 
dom, as  the  Pachecos,3  the  Mendozas  in  all  their  ex- 
tensive ramifications,'*  the  Zufiigas,  the  Velascos,^  the 
Pimentels,**  unmindful  of  the  homage  so  recently  ren- 
dered to  Isabella,  now  openly  testified  their  adhesion 
to  her  niece. 

Ferdinand  and  his  consort,  who  held  their  little  court 
at  Duefias,'  were  so  poor  as  to  be  scarcely  capable  of 
defraying  the  ordinary  charges  of  their  table.  The 
northern  provinces  of  Biscay  and  Gl  ipuscoa  had,  how- 
ever, loudly  declared  against  the  French  match;*  and 

3  The  grand  master  of  Sc  James,  and  his  son,  the  marquis  of  Villena, 
afterwards  duke  of  Escalona.  The  rents  of  the  former  nobleman,  whose 
avarice  was  as  insatiable  as  his  intiuence  over  the  leeble  mind  of  Henry 
IV.  was  unlimited,  exceeded  those  of  any  other  grandee  in  the  king- 
dom.   See  Pulgar,  Claros  Varones,  tit.  6. 

4  The  marquis  of  Santillana,  first  duke  of  Infantado,  and  his  brothers, 
the  counts  of  Coruna  and  Tendilla,  and  above  all  Pedro  Gonzalez  de 
Mendoza,  afterwards  Cardinal  of  Spain  and  archbishop  of  Toledo,  who 
was  indebted  for  the  highest  dignities  in  the  church  less  to  his  birth 
than  his  abilities.  See  Pulgar,  Claros  Varones,  tit.  4, 9,  and  Salazar  de 
Mendoza,  Dignidades,  lib.  3,  cap.  17. 

s  Alvaro  de  Zuiiiga,  count  of  Palencia,  and  created  by  Henry  IV. 
duke  of  Arevalo. — Pedro  Fernandez  de  Velasco,  count  of  Haro,  was 
raised  to  the  post  of  constable  of  Castile  in  1473,  and  the  office  con- 
tinued to  be  hereditary  in  the  family  from  that  period.  Pulgar,  Claros 
Varones,  tit.  3. — Salazar  de  Mendoza,  Dignidades,  lib.  3,  cap.  21. 

6  The  Pimentels,  counts  of  Benavente,  had  estates  which  gave  them 
60,000  ducats  a  year;  a  very  large  income  fo»-  that  period,  and  far  ex- 
ceeding that  of  any  other  grandee  of  similar  ..ik  in  the  kingdom.  L. 
Marineo,  Cosas  memorablcs,  fol.  25. 

7  Carbajal,  Anales,  MS.,  ano  70. 


*  [In  letters  addressed  to  Louis  XI.  by  the  king  and  queen  of  Castile 
and  the  grand  master,  in  147 1,  the  French  monarch  is  urged  to  accel- 


.. 


214 


TROUBLES  IN  CASTILE  AND  AKAGON. 


the  populous  province  of  Andalusia,  with  the  house  of 
Medina  Sidonia  at  its  head,  still  maintained  its  loyalty 
to  Isabella  unshaken.  But  her  principal  reliance  was 
on  the  archbishop  of  Toledo,  whose  elevated  station  in 
the  church  and  ample  revenues  gave  him  perhaps  less 
real  influence  than  his  commanding  and  resolute  char- 
acter, which  had  enabled  him  to  triumph  over  every 
obstacle  devised  by  his  more  crafty  adversary,  the 
grand  master  of  St.  James.  The  prelate,  however, 
with  all  his  generous  self-devotion,  was  far  from  being 
a  comfortable  ally.  He  would  willingly  have  raised 
Isabella  to  the  throne,  but  he  would  have  her  indebted 
for  her  elevation  exclusively  to  himself.  He  looked 
with  a  jealous  eye  on  her  most  intimate  friends,  and 
complamed  that  neither  she  nor  her  husband  deferred 
sufficiently  to  his  counsel.  The  princess  could  not 
always  conceal  her  disgust  at  these  humors ;  and  Ferdi- 
nand, on  one  occasion,  plainly  told  him  that  "he  was 
not  to  be  put  in  leading-strings,  like  so  many  of  the 
sovereigns  of  Castile."  The  old  king  of  Aragon, 
alarmed  at  the  consequences  of  a  rupture  with  so  in- 

erate  the  departure  of  his  brother,  who,  he  is  assured,  will  t  cordially 
welcomed  in  Biscay  and  Guipuscoa,  receiving  the  treatment  due  to  the 
eldest  son  of  the  sovereign.  As  a  further  bait,  Henry  represents  him- 
self as  weary  of  the  government  and  desirous  to  resign  it  to  his 
son-in-law.  (Lenglet,  M^m.  deComines,  Preuves,  tom.  iii.  p.  157.)  A 
similar  eagerness  for  the  conclusion  of  the  marriage  is  shown  in  a 
letter  from  the  chancellor  of  the  princess  Juana  to  the  duke  of  Gui- 
enne,  whom  the  writer  addresses  as  Prince  of  Asturias  and  the  "  eldest 
son"  of  Castile  and  Leon.  (Ibid.,  p.  156.)  But  although  Louis,  in  a 
letter  to  Henry  IV.,  expresses  satisfaction  with  the  match  (ibid.,  ubi 
supra),  his  real  wishes  in  regard  to  his  brother  were  of  a  different 
nature :  they  received  their  accomplishment,  two  years  later,  in  Charles's 
death.— Ed.] 


DEATH  OF  HENRY  IV. 


215 


dispensable  an  ally,  wrote  in  the  most  earnest  manner 
to  his  son,  representing  the  necessity  of  propitiating 
the  offended  prelate.  But  Ferdinand,  although  edu- 
cated in  the  school  of  dissimulation,  had  not  yet 
acquired  that  self-command  which  enabled  him  in 
after-life  lo  acrifice  his  pafjlons,  and  sometimes  in- 
deed his  prin    pies,  to  his  interests.^ 

The  most  fiightful  anarchy  at  this  period  prevailed 
throughout  Castile.  While  the  court  was  abandoned 
to  corrupt  or  frivolous  pleasure,  the  administration  of 
justice  was  neglected,  until  crimes  were  committed 
with  a  frequency  and  on  a  scale  which  menaced  the 
very  foundations  of  society.  The  nobles  conducted 
their  personal  feuds  with  an  array  of  numbers  which 
might  compete  with  those  of  powerful  princes.  The 
duke  of  Infantado,  the  head  of  the  house  of  Mendoza,' 
could  bring  into  the  field,  at  four-and-twenty  hours' 
notice,  one  thousand  lances  and  ten  thousand  foot. 
The  battles,  far  from  assuming  the  character  of  those 
waged  by  the  Italian  condottieri  at  this  period,  were  of 
the  most  sanguinary  and  destructive  kind.  Andalusia 
was  in  particular  the  theatre  of  this  savage  warfare. 
The  whole  of  that  extensive  district  was  divided  by  the 
factions  of  the  Guzmans  and  Ponces  de  Leon.  The 
chiefs  of  these  ancient  houses  having  recently  died. 


8  Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  170, — Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica, 
MS.,  cap.  45. 

9  This  nobleman,  Diego  Hurtado,  "  muy  gentil  caballero  y  gran 
seiior,"  as  Oviedo  calls  him,  was  at  this  time  only  marquis  of  Santil- 
lana,  and  was  not  raised  to  the  title  of  duke  of  Infantado  till  the  reign 
of  Isabella  (Quincuagenas,  MS.,  bat.  i,  quinc.  i,  dial.  8).  To  avoid 
confusion,  however,  I  have  given  him  the  title  by  which  he  is  usually 
recognized  by  Castilian  writers. 


:  r  j 

5  .  ■ 


1, 


i 


■ 

4     h 


2i6      TROUBLES  IN  CASTILE  AND  ARAGON. 

the  inheritance  descended  to  young  men,  whose  hot 
blood  soon  revived  the  feuds  which  had  been  per- 
mitted to  cool  under  the  temperate  .sway  of  their 
fathers.  One  of  these  fiery  cavaliers  was  Rodrigo 
Ponce  de  Leon,  so  deservedly  celebrated  afterwards  in 
the  wars  of  Granada  as  the  marquis  of  Cadiz.  He  was 
an  illegitimate  and  younger  son  of  the  count  of  Arcos, 
but  was  preferred  by  his  father  to  his  other  children  in 
consequence  of  the  extraordinary  qualities  which  he 
evinced  at  a  very  early  period.  He  served  his  appren- 
ticeship to  the  art  of  war  in  the  campaigns  against  the 
Moors,  displaying  on  several  occasions  an  uncommon 
degree  of  enterprise  and  personal  heroism.  On  suc- 
ceeding to  his  1  aternal  honors,  his  haughty  spirit,  im- 
patient of  a  rival,  led  him  to  revive  tlie  old  feud  with 
the  duke  of  Medina  Sidonia,  Ihe  head  of  the  Guzmans, 
who,  though  the  most  powenui  nobleman  in  Anda- 
Itisia,  was  far  his  inferior  in  capacity  and  military 
science.*"  '' 

On  one  occasion  the  duke  of  Medina  Sidonia  mus- 
tered an  army  of  twenty  thousand  men  against  his 
antagonist;  on  another,  no  less  than  fifteen  hundred 
houses  of  the  Ponce  faction  were  burnt  to  the  ground 
in  Seville.  Such  were  the  potent  engines  employed  by 
these  petty  sovereigns  in  their  conflicts  with  one  another, 
and  such  the  havoc  which  they  brought  on  the  fairest 
portion  of  the  Peninsula.  The  husbandman,  stripped 
of  his  harvest  and  driven  from  his  fields,  abandoned 

^o  Bemaldez,  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS.,  cap.  3. — Salazar  de  Mendoza, 
Cronica  del  Gran  Cardenal  de  Espafia,  Don  Pedro  Gonzalez  de 
Mendoza  (Toledo,  1625),  pp.  138,  150.— Zuniga,  Anales  de  Sevilla, 
p.  362. 


DEATH  OF  HENRY  IV. 


217 


himself  to  idleness,  or  sought  subsistence  by  plunder. 
A  scarcity  ensued  in  the  years  1472  and  1473,  ^^  which 
the  prices  of  the  most  necessary  commodities  rose  to 
such  an  exorbitant  height  as  put  them  beyond  the  reach 
of  any  but  the  affluent.  But  it  would  be  wearisome  to 
go  into  all  the  loathsome  details  of  wretchedness  and 
crime  brought  on  this  unhappy  country  by  an  imbecile 
government  and  a  disputed  succession,  and  portrayed 
with  lively  fidelity  in  the  chronicles,  the  letters,  and 
the  satires  of  the  time." 

While  Ferdinand's  presence  was  more  than  ever 
necessary  to  support  the  drooping  spirits  of  his  party 
in  Castile,  he  was  unexpectedly  summoned  into  Aragon 
to  the  assistance  of  his  father.  No  sooner  had  Barce- 
lona submitted  to  King  John,  as  mentioned  in  a  pre- 
ceding chapter,"  than  the  inhabitants  of  Roussillon  and 


f 


"  Bernaldez,  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS.,  cap.  4,  5,  7, — Zuniga,  Anales  de 
Sevilla,  pp.  363,  364. — Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  part.  2,  cap. 
35.  38.  39,  42. — Saez,  Moned.is  de  Enrique  IV.,  pp.  1-5. — Pulgar,  in  an 
epistle  addressed,  in  the  autumn  of  1473,  to  the  bishop  of  Coria,  adverts 
to  several  circumstances  which  set  in  a  strong  light  the  anarchical  state 
of  the  kingdom  and  the  total  deficiency  of  police.  The  celebrated 
satirical  eclogue,  also,  entitled  "  Mingo  Revulgo,"  e.xposes,  with  coarse 
but  cutting  sarcasm,  the  license  of  the  court,  the  corruption  of  the  clergy, 
and  the  prevalent  depravity  of  the  people.  In  one  of  its  stanzas  it  boldly 
ventures  to  promise  another  and  a  better  sovereign  to  the  country. 
This  performance,  even  more  interesting  to  the  antiquary  than  to  the 
historian,  has  been  attributed  by  some  to  Pulgar  (see  Mariana,  Hist,  de 
Espafia,  torn.  ii.  p.  475),  and  by  others  to  Rodrigo  Cota  (see  Nic. 
Antonio,  Bibliotheca  Vetus,  tom.  ii.  p.  264),  but  without  satisfactory 
evidence  in  favor  of  either.  Bouterwek  is  much  mistaken  in  asserting 
it  to  have  been  aimed  at  the  government  of  John  II.  The  gloss  of 
Pulgar,  whose  authority  as  a  contemporary  must  be  considered  deci- 
sive, plainly  proves  it  to  have  been  directed  against  Henry  IV. 

"  See  chap.  ii. 

K 


I   I 


2iS      TROUBLES  IN  CASTILE  AND  ARAUON. 


1   j 


Cerdagne,  which  provinces,  it  will  be  remembered, 
were  placed  in  the  custody  of  P'rance,  as  a  guaranty  for 
the  king  of  Aragon's  engagements,  oppressed  by  the 
grievous  exactions  of  their  new  rulers,  determined  to 
break  the  yoke,  and  to  put  themselves  again  under  the 
protection  of  their  ancient  master,  provided  they  could 
obtain  his  support.  The  opportunity  was  favorable. 
A  large  part  of  the  garrisons  in  the  principal  cities  had 
been  witl  drawn  by  Louis  the  Eleventh,  to  cover  the 
frontier  on  the  side  of  Burgundy  and  Brittany.  John, 
therefore,  gladly  embraced  the  proposal;  and  on  a 
concerted  day  a  simultaneous  insurrection  took  place 
throughout  the  provinces,  when  such  of  the  French,  in 
the  principal  towns,  as  had  not  the  good  fortune  to 
escape  into  the  citadels,  were  indiscriminately  massa- 
cred. Of  all  the  country,  Salces,  Collioure,  and  the 
castle  of  Perpignan  alone  remained  in  the  hands  of  the 
French.  John  then  threw  himself  into  the  last-named 
city  with  a  small  body  of  troops,  and  instantly  set  about 
the  construction  of  works  to  protect  the  inhabitants 
against  the  fire  of  the  French  garrison  in  the  castle,  as 
well  as  from  the  army  which  might  soon  be  expected  to 
besiege  them  from  without.'' 

Louis  the  Eleventh,  deeply  incensed  at  the  defection 
of  his  new  subjects,  ordered  the  most  formidable  prepa- 
rations for  the  siege  of  their  capital.  John's  officers, 
alarmed  at  these  preparations,  besought  him  not  to 
expose  his  person  at  his  advanced  age  to  the  perils 
of  a  siege  and  of  captivity.  But  the  lion-hearted  men- 
's Alonso  de  Palencia,  Cor6nica,  MS.,  cap.  56. — Mariana,  Hist,  dc 
Espaiia,  torn.  ii.  p.  481. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  191. — Barantc, 
Histoire  des  Dues  de  Bourgogne  (Paris,  1825),  torn.  ix.  pp.  101-106. 


DEATH  OF  HENRY  IV. 


319 


arch  saw  the  necessity  of  animating  the  spirits  of  the 
besieged  by  his  own  presence ;  and,  assembling  the  inhab- 
itants in  one  of  the  churches  of  the  city,  he  exhorted 
them  resolutely  to  stand  to  their  defence,  and  made  a 
solemn  oath  to  abide  the  issue  with  them  to  the  last. 

Louis,  in  the  mean  while,  had  convoked  the  ban  and 
arriere-ban  of  the  contiguous  French  provinces,  and 
mustered  an  array  of  chivalry  and  feudal  militia  amount- 
ing, according  to  the  Spanish  historians,  to  thirty  thou- 
sand men.  With  these  ample  forces,  his  lieutenant- 
general,  the  duke  of  Savoy,*  closely  invested  Perpignan, 
and,  as  he  was  provided  with  a  numerous  train  of  bat- 
tering artillery,  instantly  opened  a  heavy  fire  on  the 
inhabitants.  John,  thus  exposed  to  the  double  fire  of 
the  fortress  and  the  besiegers,  was  in  a  very  critical 
situation.  Far  from  being  disheartened,  however,  he 
was  seen,  armed  cap-a-pie,  on  horseback  from  dawn  till 
evening,  rallying  the  spirits  of  his  troops,  and  always 
present  at  the  point  of  danger.  He  succeeded  perfectly 
in  communicating  his  own  enthusiasm  to  the  soldiers. 
The  French  garrison  were  defeated  in  several  sorties, 
and  their  governor  taken  prisoner ;  while  supplies  were 
introduced  into  the  city  in  the  very  face  of  the  block- 
ading army.^* 

Ferdinand,  on  receiving  intelligence  of  his  father's 
perilous  situation,  instantly  resolved,  by  Isabella's  ad- 

»4  Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  cap.  70. — Mariana,  Hist,  de 
Espafia,  torn.  ii.  p.  482. — L,  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  148. — 
Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  195. — Anquetil,  Histoire  de  France  (Paris, 
1805),  torn.  V.  pp.  60,  61. 


I 


*  [The  person  here  spoken  of,  Philip  of  Savoy,  Seigneur  de  Bresse, 
did  not  become  duke  until  1496,  the  year  before  his  death. — ED.] 


.J  . 

■  !.;!  ■, 


2  20      TROUBLES  IN  CASTILE  AND  ARAGON. 

vice,  to  march  to  his  relief.  Putting  himself  at  the 
head  of  a  body  of  Castilian  horse,  generously  furnished 
him  by  the  archbishop  of  Toledo  and  his  friends,  he 
passed  into  Aragon,  where  he  was  speedily  joined  by 
the  principal  nobility  of  the  kingdom,  and  an  army 
amounting  in  all  to  thirteen  hundred  lances  and  seven 
thousand  infantry.  With  this  corps  he  rapidly  de- 
scended the  Pyrenees,  by  the  way  of  Manzanara,  in  the 
face  of  a  driving  tempest,  which  concealed  him  for 
some  time  from  the  view  of  the  enemy.  The  latter, 
during  their  protracted  operations,  for  nearly  three 
months,  had  sustained  a  serious  diminution  of  numbers 
in  their  repeated  skirmishes  with  the  besieged,  and  still 
more  from  an  epidemic  which  broke  out  in  their  camp. 
They  also  began  to  suffer  not  a  little  from  want  of  pro- 
visions. At  this  crisis,  the  apparition  of  this  new 
army,  thus  unexpectedly  descending  on  their  rear,  filled 
them  with  such  consternation  that  they  raised  the  siege 
at  once,  setting  fire  to  their  tents,  and  retreating  with 
such  precipitation  as  to  leave  most  of  the  sick  and 
wounded  a  prey  to  the  devouring  element.  John 
marched  out,  with  colors  flying  and  music  playing,  at 
the  head  of  his  little  band,  to  greet  his  deliverers;  and, 
after  an  affecting  interview  in  the  presence  of  the  two 

armies,  the  father  and  son  returned  in  triumph  into 
Perpignan.'s 

The  French  army,  reinforced  by  command  of  Louis, 
made  a  second  ineffectual  attempt  (their  own  writers 
call  it  only  a  feint)  upon  the  city ;  and  the  campaign 

»S  Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  196. — Barante,  Hist,  des  Dues  de  Boiu- 
gognc,  torn.  X.  pp.  105, 106. — L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  149. 
— Alonso  de  Palencia.  Coronica,  MS.,  cap.  70,  71,  72. 


DEATH  OF  HENRY  IV. 


921 


was  finally  concluded  by  a  treaty  between  the  two 
monarchs,  in  which  it  was  arranged  that  the  king  of 
Aragon  should  disburse  within  the  year  the  sum  origi- 
nally stipulated  for  the  services  rendered  him  by  Louis 
in  his  late  war  with  his  Catalan  subjects,  and  that,  in 
case  of  failure,  the  provinces  of  Roussillon  and  Cer- 
dagne  should  be  permanently  ceded  to  the  French 
crown.  The  commanders  of  the  fortified  places  in  the 
contested  territory,  selected  by  one  monarch  from  the 
nominations  of  the  other,  were  excused  during  the 
interim  from  obedience  to  the  mandates  of  either, — at 
least  so  far  as  they  might  contravene  their  reciprocal 
engagements.'*  (Sept.  1473.) 

There  is  little  reason  to  believe  that  this  singular 
compact  was  subscribed  in  good  faith  by  either  party. 
John,  notwithstanding  the  temporary  succor  which  he 
had  received  from  Louis  at  the  commencement  of  his 
difficulties  with  the  Catalans,  might  justly  complain  of 
the  infraction  of  his  engagements  at  a  subsequent 
period  of  the  war,  when  he  not  only  withheld  the  stip- 
ulated aid,  but  indirectly  gave  every  facility  in  his 
power  to  the  invasion  of  the  duke  of  Lorraine.  Neither 
was  the  king  of  Aragon  in  a  situation,  had  he  been 
disposed,  to  make  the  requisite  disbursements.  Louis, 
on  the  other  hand,  as  the  event  soon  proved,  had  no 
other  object  in  view  but  to  gain  time  to  reorganize  his 
army,  and  to  lull  his  adversary  into  security,  while  he 
took  effectual  measures  for  recovering  the  prize  which 
had  so  unexpectedly  eluded  him. 

'fi  Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  200. — Gaillard,  Rivalite,  torn.  iii.  p. 
266. — See  the  articles  of  the  treaty  cited  by  Duclos,  Hist,  de  Louis 
XI.,  torn.  ii.  pp.99,  loi. — Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  cap.  73. 


!P 


V>  \\ 


222      TROUBLES  LV  CASTILE  AND  ARAGON. 


During  these  occurrences  Isabella's  prospects  were 
daily  brightening  in  Castile.  The  duke  of  Guienne, 
the  destined  si)ouse  of  her  rival  Joanna,  had  died  in 
France ;  but  not  until  he  had  testified  his  contempt  of 
his  engagements  with  the  Castilian  princess  by  openly 
soliciting  the  hand  of  the  heiress  of  Burgundy. '^  Sub- 
sequent negotiations  for  her  marriage  with  two  other 
princes  had  entirely  failed.  The  doubts  which  hung 
over  her  birth,  and  which  the  public  protestations  of 
Henry  and  his  queen,  far  from  dispelling,  served  only 
to  augment,  by  the  necessity  which  they  implied  for 
such  an  extraordinary  proceeding,  were  sufficient  to 
deter  any  one  from  a  connection  which  must  involve 
the  party  in  all  the  disasters  of  a  civil  war.'* 

Isabella's  own  character,  moreover,  contributed  es- 
sentially to  strengthen  her  cause.  Her  sedate  conduct, 
and  the  decorum  maintained  in  her  court,  formed  a 
strong  contrast  with  the  frivolity  and  license  which  dis- 
graced that  of  Henry  and  his  consort.  Thinking  men 
were  led  to  conclude  that  the  sagacious  administration 
of  Isabella  must  eventually  secure  to  her  the  ascend- 
ency over  her  rival ;  while  all  who  sincerely  loved  their 

>7  Louis  XI.  is  supposed  with  much  probability  to  have  assassinated 
his  brother.  M.  de  Barante  sums  up  his  examination  of  the  evidence 
with  this  remark :  "  Le  roi  Louis  XL  ne  fit  peut-etre  pas  mourir  son 
fr^re,  mais  pcrsonne  nc  pensa  qu'il  en  fut  incapable."  Hist,  des  Dues 
de  Bourgogne.  torn.  ix.  p.  433. 

>8  The  two  princes  alluded  to  were  the  duke  of  Segorbc,  a  cousin 
of  Ferdinand,  and  the  king  of  Portugal.  The  former,  on  his  entrance 
into  Castile,  assumed  such  sovereign  state  (giving  his  hand,  for  in- 
stance, to  the  grandees  to  kiss)  as  disgusted  these  haughty  nobles,  and 
was  eventually  the  occasion  of  breaking  off  the  match.  Alonso  de 
Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  part  a,  cap.  62. — Faria  y  Sousa,  Europa 
Portugucsa,  torn.  ii.  p.  39a. 


DEATH  OF  HEMRY  IV. 


««5 


vere 

ne, 

d  in 

t  of 

enly 

■Sub- 


country  could  not  but  prognosticate  for  it,  under  her 
beneficent  sway,  a  degree  of  prosperity  which  it  could 
never  reach  under  the  rapacious  and  profligate  ministers 
who  directed  the  councils  of  Henry,  and  most  probably 
would  continue  to  direct  those  of  his  daughter. 

Among  the  persons  whose  opinions  experienced  a 
decided  revolution  from  these  considerations,  was  Pedro 
Gonzalez  de  Mendoza,  archbishop  of  Seville  and  car- 
dinal of  Spain ;  a  prelate  whose  lofty  station  in  the 
church  was  supported  by  talents  of  the  highest  order, 
and  whose  restless  ambition  led  him,  like  many  of  the 
churchmen  of  the  time,  to  take  an  active  interest  in 
politics,  for  which  he  was  admirably  adapted  by  his 
knowledge  of  affairs  and  discernment  of  character. 
Without  deserting  his  former  master,  he  privately  en- 
tered into  a  correspondence  with  Isabella ;  and  a  service 
which  Ferdinand,  on  his  return  from  Aragon,  had  an 
opportunity  of  rendering  the  duke  of  Infantado,  the 
head  of  the  Mendozas,"  secured  the  attachment  of  the 
other  members  of  this  powerful  family.* 

A  circumstance  occurred  at  this  time  which  seemed 
to  promise  an  accommodation  between  the  adverse 

•9  Oviedo  assigns  another  reason  for  this  change, — the  disgust  occa- 
sioned by  Henry  IV.'s  transferring  the  custody  of  his  daughter  from 
the  family  of  Mendoza  to  the  Pachecos.  Quincuagenas,  MS.,  bat.  i, 
quinc.  i,  dial.  8. 

*>  Salazar  de  Mendoza,  Cron.  del  Gran  Cardenal,  p.  133. — Alonso 
de  Palencia,  Cor6nica,  MS.,  part.  2,  cap.  46,  92. — Castillo,  Cronica, 
cap.  163. — The  influence  of  these  new  allies,  especially  of  the  cardi- 
nal, over  Isabella's  councils,  was  an  additional  ground  of  umbrage  to 
the  archbishop  of  Toledo,  who,  in  a  communication  with  the  king  of 
Aragon,  declared  himself,  though  friendly  to  their  cause,  to  be  re- 
leased from  all  further  obligations  to  serve  it.  See  Zurita,  Anales,  torn, 
iv.  lib.  46,  cap.  19. 


i1,ii 


224 


TROUBLES  IN  CASTILE  AND  ARAGON 


factions,  or  at  least  between  Henry  and  his  sister.  The 
government  of  Segovia,  whose  impregnable  citadel  had 
been  made  the  depository  of  the  royal  treasure,  was 
intrusted  to  Andres  de  Cabrera,  an  officer  of  the  king's 
household.  This  cavalier,  influenced  in  part  by  per- 
sonal pique  to  the  grand  master  of  St.  James,  and  still 
more  perhaps  by  the  importunities  of  his  wife,  Beatrix 
de  Bobadilla,  the  early  friend  and  companion  of  Isa- 
bella, entered  into  a  correspondence  with  the  princess, 
and  sought  to  open  the  way  for  her  permanent  recon- 
ciliation with  her  brother.  He  accordingly  invited 
her  to  Segovia,  where  Henry  occasionally  resided,  and, 
to  dispel  any  suspicions  which  she  might  entertain 
of  his  sincerity,  despatched  his  wife  secretly  by  night, 
disguised  in  the  garb  of  a  peasant,  to  Aranda,  where 
Isabella  then  held  her  court.  The  latter,  confirmed  by 
the  assurances  of  her  friend,  did  not  hesitate  to  comply 
with  the  invitation,  and,  accompanied  by  the  arch- 
bishop of  Toledo,  proceeded  to  Segovia,  where  an  in- 
terview took  place  between  her  and  Henry  the  Fourth, 
in  which  she  vindicated  her  past  conduct,  and  endea- 
vored to  obtain  her  brother's  sanction  to  her  union 
with  Ferdinand.  (Dec.  1473.)  Henry,  who  was  natu- 
rally of  a  placable  temper,  received  her  communication 
with  complacency,  and,  in  order  to  give  public  demon- 
stration of  the  good  understanding  now  subsisting 
between  him  and  his  sister,  condescended  to  walk  by 
her  side,  holding  the  bridle  of  her  palfrey,  as  she  rode 
along  the  streets  of  the  city.  Ferdinand,  on  his  re- 
turn into  Castile,  hastened  to  Segovia,  where  he  was 
welcomed  by  the  monarch  with  every  appearance  of 
satisfaction.     A  succession  oi  fetes  and  splendid  enter- 


DEATH  OF  HENRY  IV. 


225 


tainments,  at  which  both  parties  assisted,  seemed  to 
announce  an  entire  oblivion  of  all  past  animosities,  and 
the  nation  welcomed  with  satisfaction  these  symptoms 
of  repose  after  the  vexatious  struggle  by  which  it  had 
been  so  long  agitated." 

The  repose,  however,  was  of  no  great  duration.  The 
slavish  mind  of  Henry  gradually  relapsed  under  its 
ancient  bondage ;  and  the  grand  master  of  St.  James 
succeeded,  in  consequence  of  an  illness  with  which  the 
monarch  was  suddenly  seized  after  an  entertainment 
given  by  Cabrera,  in  infusing  into  his  mind  suspicions 
of  an  attempt  at  assassination.  Henry  was  so  far  in- 
censed or  alarmed  by  the  suggestion  that  he  concerted 
a  scheme  for  privately  seizing  the  person  of  his  sister, 
which  was  defeated  by  her  own  prudence  and  the  vigi- 
lance of  her  friends."  But,  if  the  visit  to  Segovia 
failed  in  its  destined  purpose  of  a  reconciliation  with 
Henry,  it  was  attended  with  the  important  consequence 
of  securing  to  Isabella  a  faithful  partisan  in  Cabrera, 
who,  from  the  control  which  his  situation  gave  hmi 
over  the  royal  coffers,  proved  a  most  seasonable  ally  in 
her  subsequent  struggle  with  Joanna. 

Not  long  after  this  event,  Ferdinand  received  an- 
other summons  from  his  father  to  attend  him  in  Ara- 


''"  Carbajal,  Anales,  MS.,  aiios  73,  74. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  p. 
27. — Castillo,  Cronica,  cap.  164. — Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica,  MS., 
part.  2,  cap.  75. — Oviedo,  Quincuagenas,  MS.,  bat.  i,  quinc.  i,  dial. 

23. 

»  Mendoza,  Cron.  del  Gran  Cardenal,  pp.  141,  142. — Castillo,  Cro- 
nica, cap.  164. — Oviedo  has  given  a  full  account  of  this  cavalier,  who 
was  allied  to  an  ancient  Catalan  family,  but  who  raised  himself  to  such 
pre-eminence  by  his  own  deserts,  says  that  writer,  that  he  may  well  be 
considered  the  founder  of  his  house.  Loc.  cit. 
\''oi,.  I.— 15  K* 


i 


f:  ■ 


!;•• 


1; 


226      TROUBLES  IN  CASTILE  AND  ARAGON. 


.'■  J 


gon,  where  the  storm  of  war,  which  had  been  for  some 
time  gathering  in  the  distance,  now  burst  with  pitiless 
fury.  In  the  beginning  of  February,  1474,  an  em- 
bassy consisting  of  two  of  his  principal  nobles,  accom- 
panied by  a  brilliant  train  of  cavaliers  and  attendants, 
had  been  deputed  by  John  to  the  court  of  Louis  XI. , 
for  the  ostensible  purpose  of  settling  the  preliminaries 
of  the  marriage,  previously  agreed  on,  between  the 
dauphin  and  the  infanta  Isabella,  daughter  of.  Fer- 
dinand and  Isabella,  then  little  more  than  three  years 
of  age.'^  The  real  object  of  the  mission  was  to  effect 
some  definitive  adjustment  or  compromise  of  the  differ- 
ences relating  to  the  contested  territories  of  Roussillon 
and  Cerdagne.  The  king  of  France,  who,  notwith- 
standing his  late  convention  with  John,  was  making 
active  preparations  for  the  forcible  occupation  of  these 
provinces,  determined  to  gain  time  by  amusing  the 
ambassadors  with  a  show  of  negotiation,  and  interpos- 
ing every  obstacle  which  his  ingenuity  could  devise  to 
their  progress  through  his  dominions.  He  succeeded  so 
well  in  this  latter  part  of  his  scheme  that  the  embassy 
did  not  reach  Paris  until  the  close  of  Lent.  Louis,  who 
seldom  resided  in  his  capital,  took  good  care  to  be 
absent  at  this  season.  The  ambassadors  in  the  interim 
were  entertained  with  balls, /^/(?j,  military  reviews,  and 
whatever  else  might  divert  them  from  the  real  objects 
of  their  mission.  All  communication  was  cut  o(if  with 
their  own  government,  as  their  couriers  were  stopped 
and  their  despatches  intercepted,  so  that  John  knew  as 

23  Carbajal,  Anales,  MS.,  ano  70. — This  was  the  eldest  child  of 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  born  Oct.  ist,  1470,  afterwards  queen  of 
Portugal. 


DEATH  OF  HENRY  IV. 


227 


little  of  his  envoys  or  their  proceedings  as  if  they  had 
been  in  Siberia  or  Japan,  In  the  mean  time,  formida- 
ble preparations  were  making  in  the  south  of  P>ance 
for  a  descent  on  Roussillon  ;  and  when  the  ambassadors, 
after  a  fruitless  attempt  at  negotiation,  which  evaporated 
in  mutual  crimination  and  recrimination,  set  out  on 
their  return  to  Aragon,  they  were  twice  detained,  at 
Lyons  and  Montpellier,  from  an  extreme  solicitude, 
as  the  French  government  expressed  it,  to  ascertain 
the  safest  route  through  a  country  infested  by  hostile 
armies;  and  all  this,  notwithstanding  their  repeated 
protestations  against  this  obliging  disposition,  which 
held  them  prisoners  in  opposition  to  their  own  will 
and  the  law  of  nations.  The  prince  who  descended 
to  such  petty  trickery  passed  for  the  wisest  of  his 
time.^ 

In  the  mean  while,  the  Seigneur  du  Lude  had  in- 
vaded Roussillon  at  the  head  of  nine  hundred  French 
lances  and  ten  thousand  infantry,  supported  by  a  pow- 
erful train  of  artillery,  while  a  fleet  of  Genoese  trans- 
ports, laden  with  supplies,  accompanied  tlie  nrmv  along 
the  coast.  Elna  surrendered  after  a  stridy  vcostancc  ; 
the  governor  and  some  of  the  principal  pris  j'len;  w?r- 
shamefully  beheaded  as  traitors;  and  i'ic  French  t'-en 
proceeded  to  invest  Perpignan.  The  kn  g  of  Aragun 
was  so  much  impoverished  by  the  incessa  jt  wars  in 
which  he  had  been  engaged,  that  he  was  not  only  un- 
able to  recruit  his  army,  but  was  even  obl'ped  to  pawn 
the  robe  of  costly  fur  which  he  wore  tr  defend  his 

"4  Gaillard,  Rivalit^,  torn.  iii.  pp.  267-276. — Duclos,  Hist,  de  Lo  li :> 
XI.,  torn.  ii.  pp.  113,  115. — Chronique  scandaleuse,  ed.  Pe'itot,  .  .. 
xiii.  pp.  443,  444. 


228      TROUBLES  IN  CASTILE  AND  ARAGON. 


person  against  the  inclemencies  of  the  season,  in  order 
to  defray  the  expense  of  transporting  his  baggage.  In 
this  extremity,  finding  himself  disappointed  in  the  co- 
operation, on  which  he  had  reckoned,  of  his  ancient 
allies  the  dukes  of  Burgundy  and  Brittany,  he  again 
summoned  Ferdinand  to  his  assistance,  who,  after  a 
brief  interview  with  his  father  in  Barcelona,  pro- 
ceeded to  Saragossa,  to  solicit  aid  from  the  estates  of 
Aragon. 

An  incident  occurred  on  this  visit  of  the  prince,  worth 
noticing,  as  strongly  characteristic  of  the  lawless  habits 
of  the  age.  A  citizen  of  Saragossa,  named  Ximenes 
Gordo,  of  noble  family,  but  who  had  relinquished  the 
privileges  of  his  rank  in  order  to  qualify  himself  for 
municipal  office,  had  acquired  such  ascendency  over  his 
townsmen  as  to  engross  the  most  considerable  posts  in 
the  city  for  himself  and  his  creatures.  This  authority 
he  abused  in  a  shameless  manner,  making  use  of  it  not 
only  for  the  perversion  of  justice,  but  for  the  perpetra- 
tion of  the  most  flagrant  crimes.  Although  these  facts 
were  notorious,  yet  such  were  his  power  and  popularity 
with  the  lower  classes  that  Ferdinand,  d»ispalring  of 
bringing  him  to  justice  in  the  ordinary  way,  determined 
on  a  more  summary  process.  As  Gordo  occasionally 
visited  the  palace  to  pay  his  respects  to  the  prince,  the 
latter  affected  to  regard  him  with  more  than  usual  favor, 
showing  him  such  courtesy  as  might  dis -ipate  any  dis- 
trust he  had  conceived  of  him.  Gordo,  thus  assured, 
was  invited  at  one  of  these  interviews  to  withdraw  into 
a  retired  apartment,  where  the  prince  wished  to  confer 
with  him  on  business  of  moment.  On  entering  the 
chamber  he  was  surprised  by  the  sight  of  the  public 


DEATH  OF  HENRY  IV. 


!29 


executioner,  the  hangman  of  the  city,  whose  presence, 
together  with  that  of  a  priest,  and  the  apparatus  of 
death  with  which  the  apartment  was  garnished,  revealed 
at  once  the  dreadful  nature  of  his  destiny. 

He  was  then  charged  with  the  manifold  crimes  of 
which  he  had  been  guilty,  and  sentence  of  death  was 
pronounced  on  him.  In  vain  did  he  appeal  to  Ferdi- 
nand, pleading  the  services  which  he  had  rendered  on 
more  than  one  occasion  to  his  father.  Ferdinand  as- 
sured him  that  these  should  be  gratefully  remembered 
in  the  protection  of  his  children,  and  then,  bidding 
him  unburden  his  conscience  to  his  confessor,  con- 
signed him  to  the  hand  of  the  executioner.  His  body 
was  exposed  that  very  day  in  the  market-place  of  the 
city,  to  the  dismay  of  his  friends  and  adherents,  most 
of  whom  paid  the  penalty  of  their  crimes  in  the  ordi- 
nary course  of  justice.  This  extraordinary  proceeding 
is  highly  characteristic  of  the  unsettled  times  in  which 
it  occurred ;  when  acts  of  violence  often  superseded 
the  regular  operation  of  the  law,  even  in  those  coun- 
tries whose  forms  of  government  approached  the  nearest 
to  a  determinate  constitution.  It  will  doubtless  remind 
the  reac'icr  of  the  similar  proceeding  imputed  to  Louis 
the  Eleventh,  in  the  admirable  aicetch  given  us  of  that 
monarch  in  "  Quentin  Durward."^^ 

The  supplies  furnished  by  the  Aragonese  cortes  were 
inadequate  to  king  John's  necessities,  and  he  was  com- 
pelled, while  hovering  with  his  little  force  on  the  con- 
fines of  Roussillon,  to  witness  the  gradual  reduction  of 
its  capital,  without  being  able  to  strike  a  blow  in  its 

"SAlonsodePalencia, Coronica,  MS., part.  2, cap.  83. — Ferreras,  Hist. 
frEspiign..,<tom.  vii.  p.  400. — Ziiuta,  Analos,  torn,  iv,  lib.  19,  cap.  12. 


230 


TROUBLES  IN  CASTILE  AND  AH  AG  ON. 


defence.  The  inhabitants,  indeed,  who  fought  with  a 
resolution  worthy  of  ancient  Numantia  or  Saguntum, 
were  reduced  to  the  last  extremity  of  famine,  support- 
ing life  by  feeding  on  the  most  loathsome  offal,  on  cats, 
dogs,  the  corpses  of  their  enemies,  and  even  on  such 
of  their  own  dead  as  had  fallen  in  battle !  And  when 
at  length  an  honorable  capitulation  was  granted  them 
on  the  14th  of  March,  1475,  ^^^  garrison  who  evacu- 
ated the  city,  reduced  to  the  number  of  four  hundred, 
were  obliged  to  march  on  foot  to  Barcelona,  as  they 
had  consumed  their  horses  during  the  siege. ^ 

The  terms  of  capitulation,  which  permitted  every 
inhabitant  to  evacuate,  or  reside  unmolested  in  the 
city,  at  his  option,  were  too  liberal  to  satisfy  the  vin- 
dictive temper  of  the  king  of  France.  He  instantly 
wrote  to  his  generals,  instructing  them  to  depart  from 
their  engagements,  to  keep  the  city  so  short  of  supplies 
as  to  compel  an  emigration  of  its  original  inhabitants, 
and  to  confiscate  for  their  own  use  the  estates  of  the 
principal  nobility;  and  after  delineating  in  detail  the 
perfidious  policy  which  they  were  to  pursue,  he  con- 
cluded with  the  assurance  "  that,  by  the  blessing  of  God 
and  our  L  idy,  and  Monsieur  St.  Martin,  he  would  be 
with  them  before  the  winter,  in  order  to  aid  them  in  its 
execifion."'^     Such  was  the  miserable  medley  of  hy- 

=*  L.  Marineo,  Cos.is  memorablcs,  fol.  150. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv. 
lib.  19,  cap.  13. — Chroni  ]u?  sea  ^ci.^leuse,  ed.  Petitot,  torn.  xiii.  p.  456. 
— Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  par;   2,  cap.  91. 

27  See  copies  of  the  fiij^'nal  letters,  as  giMU  by  M.  Barante,  in  his 
History  of  the  Dukes  oi"  Durgundy,  in  which  the  author  has  so  hap- 
pily seized  the  tone  and  picturesque  coloring  of  the  ancient  chronicles ; 
torn.  X.  pp.  289-298.*  

*  [These  letters  and  instructions  were  addressed,  not  to  the  generals 


DEATH  OF  HENRY  IV. 


231 


pocrisy  and  superstition  which  characterized  the  poli- 
tics of  the  European  courts  in  this  corrupt  age,  and 
which  dimmed  the  lustre  of  names  most  conspicuous 
on  the  page  of  history. 

The  occupation  of  Roussillon  was  followed  by  a 
truce  of  six  months  between  the  belligerent  parties. 
The  regular  course  of  the  narrative  has  been  somewhat 
anticipated,  in  order  to  conclude  that  portion  of  it  re- 
lating to  the  war  with  France,  before  again  reverting 
to  the  affairs  of  Castile,  where  Henry  the  Fourth,  pining 
under  an  incurable  malady,  was  gradually  approaching 
the  termination  of  his  disastrous  reign. 

This  event,  which,  from  the  momentous  consequences 
it  involved,  was  contemplated  with  the  deepest  solici- 
tude, not  only  by  those  who  had  an  immediate  and 
personal  interest  at  stake,  but  by  the  whole  nation,  took 
place  on  the  night  of  the  nth  of  December,  1474.'* 
It  was  precipitated  by  the  death  of  the  grand  master 
of  St.  James,  on  whom  the  feeble  mind  of  Henry  had 
been  long  accustomed  to  rest  for  its  support,  and  who 
was  cut  off  by  an  acute  disorder  but  a  few  months  pre- 
vious, in  the  ful!  prime  of  his  ambitious  sch(;mes.  The 
king,  notwithstanding  the  lingering  nature  of  his  dis- 

28  Bemaldez,  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS.,  cap.  lo. — Carbajal,  Anales, 
MS.,  ano  74. — Castillo,  Cronica,  caip.  148. 


who  had  granted  the  obnoxious  terms,  and  whom  Louis,  on  this  ac- 
count, denounced  as  rank  traitors,  but  to  the  Sire  du  Bouchage,  whom 
he  had  sent  to  remove  them,  to  appoint  others  in  their  places,  and  to 
take  the  most  effective  measures  for  securing  the  possession  of  Rous- 
sillon, the  restoration  of  which  to  Aragon  had  just  been  formally  de- 
manded, through  a  special  embassy,  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 
(Legrand  MSS.,  Biblioth^que  Nationale,  Paris.)  The  king's  orders  in 
regard  to   ik  inhabitants  of  Perpignan  w  ere  not  carried  out. — Ed.] 


• 


I 


'Ik 


'\ 


^i^ 


!  i; 


il 


M 


232 


TROUBLES  IN  CASTILE  AND  ARAGON. 


ease  gave  him  ample  time  for  preparation,  expired  with- 
out a  will,  or  even,  as  generally  asserted,  the  designa- 
tion of  a  successor.  This  was  the  more  remarkable, 
not  only  as  being  contrary  to  established  usage,  but  as 
occurring  at  a  period  when  the  succession  had  been  so 
long  and  hotly  debated. "^    The  testaments  of  the  Cas- 

*9  This  topic  is  involved  in  no  little  obscurity,  and  has  been  reported 
with  much  discrepancy  as  well  as  inaccuracy  by  the  modem  Spanish 
historians.  Among  the  ancient,  Castillo,  the  historiographer  of 
Henry  IV.,  mentions  certain  "  testamentary  executors,"  without, 
however,  noticing  in  any  more  direct  way  the  existence  of  a  will. 
(Cron.,  c.  168.)  The  Curate  of  Los  Palacios  refers  to  a  clause  re- 
ported, he  says,  to  have  existed  in  the  testament  of  Henry  IV.,  in 
which  he  declares  Joanna  his  daughter  and  heir.  (Reyes  Catolicos, 
MS.,  cap.  10.)  Alonso  de  Palencia  states  positively  that  there  was  no 
such  instrument,  and  that  Henry,  on  being  asked  who  was  to  suc- 
ceed him,  referred  to  his  secretary  Juan  Gonzalez  for  a  knowledge 
of  his  intention.  (Cron.,  c.  92.)  L.  Marineo  also  states  that  the  king, 
"  with  his  usual  improvidence,"  left  no  will.  (Cosas  memorables,  fol. 
155.)  Pulgar,  another  contemporary,  expressly  declares  that  he  exe- 
cuted no  will,  and  quotes  the  words  dictated  by  him  to  his  secretary, 
in  which  he  simply  designates  two  of  the  grandees  as  "  executors  of 
his  soul"  {albaceas  de  su  anitna),  and  four  others  in  conjunction  with 
them  as  the  guardians  of  his  daughter  Joanna.  (Reyes  Cat.,  p.  31.) 
It  seems  not  improbable  that  the  existence  of  this  document  has  been 
confounded  with  that  of  a  testament,  and  that,  with  reference  to  it,  the 
phrase  above  quoted  of  Castillo,  as  well  as  the  passage  of  Bernaldez, 
is  to  be  interpreted.  Carbajal's  wild  story  of  the  existence  of  a  will, 
of  its  secretion  for  more  than  thirty  years,  and  its  final  suppression  by 
Ferdinand,  is  too  naked  of  testimony  to  deserve  the  least  weight  with 
the  historian.  (See  his  Anales,  MS.,  ano  74.)  It  should  be  remem- 
bered, however,  that  most  of  the  above-mentioned  writers  compiled 
their  works  after  the  accession  of  Isabella,  and  that  none,  save  Castillo, 
were  the  partisans  of  her  rival.  It  should  also  be  added  that  in  the 
letters  addressed  by  the  princess  Joanna  to  the  different  cities  of  the 
kingdom,  on  her  assuming  the  title  of  queen  of  Castile  (bearing  date 
May,  1475),  it  is  expressly  stated  that  Henry  IV.,  on  his  death-bed, 
solemnly  affirmed  her  to  be  his  only  daughter  and  lawful  heir.    These 


DEATH  OF  HENRY  IV. 


a33 


tilian  sovereigns,  though  never  esteemed  positively 
binding,  and  occasionally,  indeed,  set  aside,**  when 
deemed  unconstitutional  or  even  inexpedient  by  the 
legislature,  were  always  allowed  to  have  great  weight 
with  the  nation. 

With  Henry  the  Fourth  terminated  the  male  line  of 
the  house  of  Trastamara,  who  had  kept  possession  of 
the  throne  for  more  than  a  century,  and  in  the  course 
of  only  four  generations  had  exhibited  every  gradation 
of  character,  from  the  bold  and  chivalrous  enterprise 
of  the  first  Henry  of  that  name,  down  to  the  drivel- 
ling imbecility  of  the  last. 

The  character  of  Henry  the  Fourth  has  been  suffi- 
ciently delineated  in  that  of  his  reign  He  was  not 
without  certain  amiable  qualities,  and  may  be  considered 
as  a  weak  rather  than  a  wicked  prince.  In  persons, 
however,  intrusted  with  the  degree  of  power  exercised 
by  sovereigns  of  even  the  most  limited  monarchies  of 
this  period,  a  weak  man  may  be  deemed  more  mis- 
chievous to  the  state  over  which  he  presides  than  a 
wicked  one.  The  latter,  feeling  himself  responsible  in 
the  eyes  of  the  nation  for  his  actions,  is  more  likely  to 
consult  appearances,  and,  where  his  own  passions  or 
interests  are  not  immediately  involved,  to  legislate  with 
reference  to  the  general  interests  of  his  subjects.  The 
former,  on  the  contrary,  is  too  often  a  mere  tool  in  the 
hands  of  favorites,  who,  finding  themselves  screened 

letters  were  drafted  by  John  de  Oviedo  (Juan  Gonzalez),  the  confi- 
dential secretary  of  Henry  IV.     See  Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  235- 

239- 

30  As  was  the  case  with  the  testaments  of  Alfonso  of  Leon  and  Al- 
fonso the  Wise,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  and  with  that  of  Peter  the 
Cruel,  in  the  fourteenth. 


I 


I 


I    I 


:    f. 


If 


I 


i!ll 


«34 


TROUBLES  IN  CASTILE  AND  A  RAG  ON. 


by  the  interposition  of  royal  authority  from  the  <  :;iise- 
quences  of  measures  for  which  they  should  be  justly  re- 
sponsible, sacrifice  without  remorse  the  public  weal  to 
the  advancement  of  their  private  fortunes.  Thus  the 
state,  made  to  minister  to  the  voracious  appetites  of 
many  tyrants,  suffers  incalculably  more  than  it  would 
from  one.  So  fared  it  with  Castile  under  Henry  the 
Fourth ;  dismembered  by  faction,  her  revenues  squan- 
dered on  worthless  parasites,  the  grossest  violations  of 
justice  unredressed,  public  faith  become  a  jest,  the 
treasury  bankrupt,  the  court  a  brothel,  and  private 
morals  too  loose  and  audacious  to  seek  even  the  veil 
of  hypocrisy !  Never  had  the  fortunes  of  the  king- 
dom reached  so  low  an  ebb  since  the  great  Saracen 
invasion. 


The  hislori un  cinnot  complain  of  a  want  of  authentic  materijvls  for 
the  reign  of  HeMry  IV.  Two  of  the  chroniclers  of  that  period, 
Alonso  de  Palencia  and  Enriquez  del  Castillo,  were  eye-witnesses  and 
conspicuous  actors  in  the  scenes  which  they  recorded,  and  connected 
with  opposite  factions.  The  former  of  these  writers,  Alonso  de  Palen- 
cia, was  bom,  as  appears  from  his  work,  "  De  Synonymis,"  cited  by 
Fellicer  (Bibliotheca  de  Traductores,  p.  7),  in  1423.  Nic.  Antonio  has 
fallen  into  the  error  of  dating  his  birth  nine  years  later.  (Bibliotheca 
Vetus,  torn.  ii.  p.  331.)  At  the  age  of  seventeen,  he  became  page  tc 
Alfonso  of  Carthagena,  bishop  of  Burgos,  and,  in  the  family  of  that 
estimable  prelate,  acquired  a  taste  for  letters,  which  never  deserted  him 
during  a  busy  political  career.  He  afterwards  visited  Italy,  where  he 
became  acquainted  with  Cardinal  Bessarion,  and  through  him  with  the 
learned  Greek  Trapezuntius,  whose  lectures  on  philosophy  and  rhet- 
oric he  attended.  On  his  return  to  his  native  country,  he  was  raised 
to  the  dignity  of  royal  historiographer  by  Alfonso,  younger  brother  of 
Henry  IV.,  and  competitor  with  him  for  the  crown.  He  attached 
himself  to  the  fortunes  of  Isabella,  after  Alfonso's  death,  and  was  em- 
ployed by  the  archbishop  of  Toledo  in  many  delicate  negotiations, 


DEATH  OF  HENRY  IV. 


235 


particularly  in  arranging  the  marriage  of  the  princess  with  Ferdinand, 
for  which  purpose  he  made  a  secret  journey  into  Aragon.  On  the 
accession  of  Isabella,  he  was  confirmed  in  the  office  of  national  chron- 
icler, and  passed  the  remainder  of  hia  life  in  the  composition  of  philo- 
logical and  historical  works  and  translations  from  the  ancient  classics. 
The  time  of  his  death  is  uncertain.  He  lived  to  a  good  old  age,  how- 
ever, since  it  appears  from  his  own  statement  (see  Mendez,  Typogra- 
phia  Espafiola  (Madrid,  1796),  p.  190)  that  his  version  of  Josephus 
was  not  completed  till  the  year  149a. 

The  most  popular  of  Palencia's  writings  an  "Chronicle  of 

Henry  IV.,"  and  his  I^-\tin  "  Decades,"  contini,  le  reign  of  Isa- 

bella down  to  the  capture  of  Baza,  in  1489.  His  historical  style,  far 
from  scholastic  pedantry,  exhibits  the  business-like  manner  of  a  man 
of  the  world.  His  Chronicle,  which,  being  composed  in  the  Castilian, 
was  probably  intended  for  popular  use,  is  conducted  with  little  artifice, 
and  indeed  with  a  prolixity  and  minuteness  of  detail,  arising  no  doubt 
from  the  deep  interest  which  as  an  actor  he  took  in  the  scenes  he  de- 
scribes. His  sentiments  are  expressed  with  boldness,  and  sometimes 
with  the  acerbity  of  party  feeling.  He  has  been  much  commended 
by  the  best  Spanish  writers,  such  as  Zurita,  Zuiliga,  Marina,  Clemen- 
cin,  for  his  veracity.  The  i.iternal  evidence  of  this  is  sufficiently  strong 
in  his  delineation  of  those  scenes  in  which  he  was  personally  engaged  ; 
in  his  account  of  others,  it  will  not  be  difficult  to  find  examples  of  neg- 
ligence and  inaccuracy.  His  Latin  "  Decades"  were  probably  com- 
posed with  more  care,  as  addressed  to  a  learned  class  of  readers ;  and 
they  are  lauded  by  Nic.  Antonio  as  an  elegant  commentary,  worthy  to 
be  assiduously  studied  by  all  who  would  acquaint  themselves  with  the 
history  of  their  country.  The  art  of  printing  has  done  less  perhaps 
for  Spain  than  for  any  other  country  in  Europe  ;  and  these  two  valua- 
ble histories  are  still  permitted  to  swell  the  rich  treasure  of  manuscripts 
with  which  her  libraries  are  overloaded. 

Enriquez  del  Castillo,  a  native  of  Segovia,  was  the  chaplain  and 
historiographer  of  King  Henry  IV.,  and  a  member  of  his  privy  coun- 
cil. His  situation  made  him  acquainted  not  only  with  the  policy  and 
intrigues  of  the  court,  but  with  the  personal  feelings  of  the  monarch, 
who  reposed  entire  confidence  in  him,  which  Castillo  repaid  with  uni- 
form loyalty.  He  appears  very  early  to  have  commenced  his  Chroni- 
cle of  Henry's  reign.  On  the  occupation  of  Segovia  by  the  young 
Alfonso,  after  the  battle  of  Olmedo,  in  1467,  the  chronicler,  together 
with  the  portion  of  his  history  then  compiled,  was  unfortunate  enough 


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236      TROUBLES  IN  CASTILE  AND  ARAGON. 

to  fidl  into  the  enemy's  hands.  The  author  was  soon  summoned  to 
4he  presence  of  Alfonso  and  his  counsellors,  to  hear  and  justify,  as  he 
could,  certain  passages  of  what  they  termed  his  "  false  and  frivolous 
narrative."  Castillo,  hoping  little  from  a  defence  before  such  a  preju- 
diced tribunal,  resolutely  kept  his  peace ;  and  it  might  have  gone  hard 
with  him,  had  it  not  been  for  his  ecclesiastical  profession.  He  subse- 
quently escaped,  but  never  recovered  his  manuscripts,  which  were  pro- 
bably destroyed ;  and,  in  the  Introduction  to  his  Chronicle,  he  laments 
that  he  has  been  obliged  to  rewrite  the  first  half  of  his  master's 
reign. 

Notwithstanding  Castillo's  familiarity  with  public  affairs,  his  work  is 
not  written  in  the  business-like  style  of  Palencia's.  The  sentmients 
exhibit  a  moral  sensibility  scarcely  to  have  been  expected,  even  from  a 
minister  of  religion,  in  the  corrupt  court  of  Henry  IV. ;  and  the  honest 
indignation  of  the  writer  at  the  abuses  which  he  witnessed  sometimes 
breaks  forth  in  a  strain  of  considerable  eloquence.  The  spirit  of  his 
work,  notwithstanding  its  abundant  loyalty,  may  be  also  commended 
for  its  candor  in  relation  to  the  partisans  of  Isabella ;  which  has  led 
some  critics  to  suppose  that  it  underwent  a  rifacimento  after  the  acces- 
sion of  that  princess  to  the  throne. 

Castillo's  Chronicle,  more  fortunate  than  that  of  his  rival,  has  been 
published  in  a  handsome  form  under  the  care  of  Don  Jose  Miguel  de 
Flores,  Secretary  of  the  Spanish  Academy  of  History,  to  whose  learned 
labors  in  this  way  Castilian  literature  is  so  much  indebted. 


CHAPTER  V. 

ACCESSION    OF    FERDINAND   AND   ISABELLA. — WAR   OF 
THE   SUCCESSION. — BATTLE   OF   TORO. 


I474-I476. 

Isabella  proclaimed  Queen. — Settlement  of  the  Crown. — ^Alfonso  of 
Portugal  supports  Joanna. — Invades  Castile. — Retreat  of  the  Cas- 
tilians. — Appropriation  of  the  Church  Plate. — Reorganization  of  the 
Army. — Battle  of  Toro. — Submission  of  the  whole  Kingdom. — 
Peace  with  France  and  Portugal. — ^Joanna  takes  the  Veil. — Death 
of  John  II.  of  Aragon. 

Most  of  the  contemporary  writers  are  content  to  de- 
rive Isabella's  title  to  the  crown  of  Castile  from  the 
illegitimacy  of  her  rival  Joanna.  But  as  this  fact, 
whatever  probability  it  may  receive  from  the  avowed 
licentiousness  of  the  queen,  and  some  other  collateral 
circumstances,  was  never  established  by  legal  evidence, 
or  even  made  the  subject  of  legal  inquiry,  it  cannot 
reasonably  be  adduced  as  affording  in  itself  a  satisfac- 
tory basis  for  the  pretensions  of  Isabella.' 

I  The  popular  belief  of  Joanna's  illegitimacy  was  founded  on  the 
following  circumstances : — i.  King  Henry's  first  marriage  with  Blanche 
of  Navarre  was  dissolved,  after  it  had  subsisted  twelve  years,  on  the 
publicly  plleged  ground  of  "  impotence  in  the  parties."  2.  The  prin- 
cess Joanna,  the  only  child  of  his  second  queen,  Joanna  of  Portugal, 
was  not  born  until  the  eighth  year  of  her  marriage,  and  long  after  she 
had  become  notorious  for  her  gallantries.  3.  Although  Henry  kept 
several  mistresses,  whom  he  maintained  in  so  ostentatious  a  manner  as 

(  237  ) 


238     ACCESSION  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


fl 


w 


These  are  to  be  derived  from  the  will  of  the  nation 
as  expressed  by  its  representatives  in  cortes.  The 
power  of  this  body  to  interpret  the  laws  regulating  the 
succession,  and  to  determine  the  succession  itself,  in 
the  most  absolute  manner,  is  incontrovertible,  having 
been  established  by  repeated  precedents  from  a  very 
ancient  period."  In  the  present  instance,  the  legisla- 
ture, soon  after  the  birth  of  Joanna,  tendered  the  usual 
oaths  of  allegiance  to  her  as  heir  apparent  to  the  mon- 
archy. On  a  subsequent  occasion,  however,  the  cortes, 
for  reasons  deemed  sufficient  by  itself,  and  under  a  con- 
viction that  its  consent  to  the  preceding  measure  had 
been  obtained  through  an  undue  influence  on  the  part 
of  the  crown,  reversed  its  former  acts,  and  did  homage 

to  excite  general  scandal,  he  was  never  known  to  have  had  issue  by 
any  one  of  them. — To  counterbalance  the  presumption  afforded  by 
these  facts,  it  should  be  stated  that  Henry  appears,  to  the  day  of  his 
death,  to  have  cherished  the  princess  Joanna  as  his  own  offspring,  and 
that  Beltran  de  la  Cueva,  duke  of  Albuquerque,  her  reputed  father, 
instead  of  supporting  her  claims  to  the  crown  on  the  demise  of  Henry, 
as  would  have  been  natural  had  he  been  entitled  to  the  honors  of 
paternity,  attached  himself  to  the  adverse  faction  of  Isabella. 

Queen  Joanna  survived  her  husband  about  six  months  only. 
Father  Florez  (Reynas  Cathdlicas,  tom.  ii.  pp.  760-786)  has  made  a 
flimsy  attempt  to  whitewash  her  character ;  but,  to  say  nothing  of  al- 
most every  contemporary  historian,  as  well  as  of  the  official  documents 
of  that  day  (see  Marina,  Teoria,  tom.  iii.  part.  3,  num.  11),  the  stain 
has  been  too  deeply  fixed  by  the  repeated  testimony  of  Castillo,  the 
loyal  adherent  of  her  own  party,  to  be  thus  easily  effaced. 

It  is  said,  however,  that  the  queen  died  in  the  odor  of  sanctity ;  and 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  caused  her  to  be  deposited  in  a  rich  mauso- 
leum, erected  by  the  ambassador  to  the  court  of  the  Great  Tamerlane 
for  himself,  but  from  which  his  remains  were  somewhat  unceremoni- 
ously ejected,  in  order  to  make  room  for  those  of  his  royal  mistress. 

»  See  this  subject  discussed  in  externa,  by  Marina,  Teoria,  part.  2, 
cap.  i-io. — See  also  Introd.  sect,  i  of  this  History. 


n 


* 


^P'A/i   OF  THE  SUCCESSION. 


239 


to  Isabella  as  the  only  true  and  lawful  successor.^  In 
this  disposition  the  legislature  continued  so  resolute 
that,  notwithstanding  Henry  twice  convoked  the  states 
for  the  express  purpose  of  renewing  their  allegiance  to 
Joanna,  they  refused  to  comply  with  the  summons  ;* 
and  thus  Isabella,  at  the  time  of  her  brother's  death, 
possessed  a  title  to  the  crown  unimpaired,  and  derived 
from  the  sole  authority  which  could  give  it  a  constitu- 
tional validity.  It  may  be  added  that  the  princess 
was  so  well  aware  of  the  real  basis  of  her  pretensions 
that  in  her  several  manifestoes,  although  she  adverts 
to  the  popular  notion  of  her  rival's  illegitimacy,  she 
rests  the  strength  of  her  cause  on  the  sanction  of  the 
cortes. 

On  learning  Henry's  death,  Isabella  signified  to  the 
inhabitants  of  Segovia,  where  she  then  resided,  her  de- 
sire of  being  proclaimed  queen  in  that  city,  with  the 
solemnities  usual  on  such  occasions.^  Accordingly,  on 
the  following  morning,  being  the  13th  of  December, 
1474,  a  numerous  assembly,  consisting  of  the  nobles, 
clergy,  and  public  magistrates  in  their  robes  of  office, 
waited  on  her  at  the  alcazar,  or  castle,  and,  receiving 
her  under  a  canopy  of  rich  brocade,  escorted  her  in 
solemn  procession  to  the  principal  square  of  the  city, 
where  a  broad  platform  or  scaffold  had  been  erected  for 


3  See  Part  I.  chap.  3. 

4  See  Part  I.  chap.  4,  note  a. 

s  Fortunately,  this  strong  place,  in  which  the  royal  treasure  was  de- 
posited, was  in  the  keeping  of  Andres  de  Cabrera,  the  husband  of 
Isabella's  friend,  Beatriz  de  BobadiUa.  His  co-operation  at  this  junc- 
ture was  so  important  that  Oviedo  does  not  hesitate  to  declare,  "It 
lay  with  him  to  make  Isabella  or  her  rival  queen,  as  he  listed."  Quin- 
cuagenas,  MS.,  bat.  i,  quinc.  1,  dial.  23. 


240     ACCESSION  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


! 


I'  MM 


i 


the  performance  of  the  ceremony.  Isabella,  royally 
attired,  rode  on  a  Spanish  jennet,  whose  bridle  was 
held  by  two  of  the  civic  functionaries,  while  an  officer 
of  her  court  preceded  her  on  horseback,  bearing  aloft 
a  naked  sword,  the  symbol  of  sovereignty.  On  ar- 
riving at  the  square,  she  alighted  from  her  palfrey,  and, 
ascending  the  platform,  seated  herself  on  a  throne 
which  had  been  prepared  for  her.  A  herald  with  a 
loud  voice  proclaimed,  **  Castile,  Castile  for  the  king 
Don  Ferdinand  and  his  consort  Dofla  Isabella,  queen 
proprietor  {reina  proprietarid)  of  these  kingdoms!" 
The  royal  standards  were  then  unfurled,  while  the  peal 
of  bells  and  the  discharge  of  ordnance  from  the  castle 
publicly  announced  the  accession  of  the  new  sover- 
eign. Isabella,  after  receiving  the  homage  of  her  sub- 
jects, and  swearing  to  maintain  inviolate  the  liberties 
of  the  realm,  descended  from  the  platform,  and,  at- 
tended by  the  same  cortege,  moved  slowly  towards  the 
cathedral  church;  where,  after  Te  Deum  had  been 
chanted,  she  prostrated  herself  before  the  principal 
altar,  and,  returning  thanks  to  the  Almighty  for  the 
protection  hitherto  vouchsafed  her,  implored  him  to 
enlighten  her  future  counsels,  so  that  she  might  dis- 
charge the  high  trust  reposed  in  her  with  equity  and 
wisdom.  Such  were  the  simple  forms  that  attended  the 
coronation  of  the  monarchs  of  Castile,  previously  to 
the  sixteenth  century.* 

The  cities  favorable  to  Isabella's  cause,  comprehend- 

*  Bernaldez,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  lo. — Carbajal,  Anales,  MS., 
ano  75. — Alonso  de  Palencia,  Coronica,  MS.,  part.  2,  cap.  93. — L. 
Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  155. — Oviedo,  Qiiincuagenas,  MS., 
bat.  z.  quinc.  2,  dial.  3. 


IVAJ?   OF  THE  SUCCESSION. 


241 


ing  far  the  most  populous  and  wealthy  throughout  the 
kingdom,  followed  the  example  of  Segovia,  and  raised 
the  royal  standard  for  their  new  sovereign.  The  prin- 
cipal grandees,  as  well  as  most  of  the  inferior  nobility, 
soon  presented  themselves  from  all  quarters,  in  order  to 
tender  the  customary  oaths  of  allegiance ;  and  an  as- 
sembly of  the  estates,  convened  for  the  ensuing  month 
of  February  at  Segovia,  imparted,  by  a  similar  cere- 
mony, a  constitutional  sanction  to  these  proceedings.' 
On  Ferdinand's  arrival  from  Aragon,  where  he  was 
staying  at  the  time  of  Henry's  death,  occupied  with 
the  war  of  Roussillon,  a  disagreeable  discussion  took 
place  in  regard  to  the  respective  authority  to  be  en- 
joyed by  the  husband  and  wife  in  the  administration 
of  the  government.  Ferdinand's  relatives,  with  the 
admiral  Henriquez  at  their  head,  contended  that  the 
crown  of  Castile,  and  of  course  the  exclusive  sover- 
eignty, was  limited  to  him,  as  the  nearest  male  repre- 
sentative of  the  house  of  Trastamara.  Isabella's  friends, 
on  the  other  hand,  insisted  that  these  rights  devolved 
solely  on  her,  as  the  lawful  heir  and  proprietor  of  the 
kingdom.  The  affair  was  finally  referred  to  the  arbi- 
tration of  the  cardinal  of  Spain  and  the  archbishop  of 
Toledo,  who,  after  careful  examination,  established  by 

7  Marina,  whose  peculiar  researches  and  opportunities  make  him 
the  best,  is  my  only  authority  for  this  convention  of  the  cortes.  (Te- 
oria,  torn.  ii.  pp.  63,  89.)  The  extracts  he  makes  from  the  writ  of  sum- 
mons, however,  seem  to  imply  that  the  object  was  not  the  recognition 
of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  but  of.  their  daughter,  as  successor  to  the 
crown.  Among  the  nobles  who  openly  testified  their  adhesion  to  Isa- 
bella were  no  less  than  four  of  the  six  individuals  to  whom  the  late 
king  had  intrusted  the  guardianship  of  his  daughter  Joanna :  viz.  the 
grand  cardinal  of  Spain,  the  constable  of  Castile,  the  duke  of  Infan- 
tado,  and  the  count  of  Benavente. 
Vol.  I. — 16  1. 


242 


ACCESSION  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


undoubted  precedent  that  the  exclusion  of  females  from 
the  succession  did  not  obtain  in  Castile  and  Leon,  as 
was  the  case  in  Aragon ;"  that  Isabella  was  consequently 
sole  heir  of  these  dominions  j  and  that  whatever  au- 
thority Ferdinand  might  possess  could  only  be  derived 
through  her.  A  settlement  was  then  made  on  the  basis 
of  the  original  marriage  contract.'  All  municipal  ap- 
pointments, and  collation  to  ecclesiastical  benefices, 
were  to  be  made  in  the  name  of  both  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  queen.  All  fiscal  nominations,  and 
issues  from  the  treasury,  were  to  be  subject  to  her  order. 
The  commanders  of  the  fortified  places  were  to  render 
homage  to  her  alone.  Justice  was  to  be  administered 
by  both  conjointly  when  residing  in  the  same  place, 
and  by  each  independently  when  separate.  Proclama- 
tions and  letters  patent  were  to  be  subscribed  with  the 
signatures  of  both ;  their  images  were  to  be  stamped 
on  the  public  coin,  and  the  united  arms  of  Castile  and 
Aragon  emblazoned  on  a  common  seal." 

B  A  precedent  for  female  inheritance,  in  the  latter  kingdom,  was  sub- 
sequently furnished  by  the  undisputed  succession  and  long  reign  of 
Joanna,  daughter  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  and  mother  of  Charles 
V.  The  introduction  of  the  Salic  law,  under  the  Bourbon  dynasty, 
opposed  a  new  barrier,  indeed ;  but  this  has  been  since  swept  away  by 
the  decree  of  the  late  monarch,  Ferdinand  VII.,  and  the  paramount 
authoi  'ty  of  the  cortes ;  and  we  may  hope  that  the  successful  assertion 
of  her  ^awful  rights  by  Isabella  II.  will  put  this  much- vexed  question 
at  rest  forever. 

9  See  Part  I.  chap.  3. — Ferdinand's  powers  are  not  so  narrowly 
limited,  at  least  not  so  carefully  defined,  in  this  settlement  as  in  the 
marriage  articles.  Indeed,  the  instrument  is  much  more  concise  and 
general  in  its  whole  import. 

«o  Salazar  de  Mendoza,  Cron.  del  Gran  Cardenal,  lib.  i,  cap.  40. — 
L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  155, 156. — Zurita,  Anales,  tom.  iv. 
fol.  222-224. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  pp.  35,  36. — See  the  original 


fyj4/l   OF  THE  SUCCESSION. 


343 


as 


Ferdinand,  it  is  said,  was  so  much  dissatisfied  with 
an  arrangement  which  vested  the  essential  rights  of 
sovereignty  in  his  consort,  that  he  threatened  to  return 
to  Aragon ;  but  Isabella  reminded  him  that  this  distri- 
bution of  power  was  rather  nominal  than  real ;  that 
their  interests  were  indivisible ;  that  his  will  would  be 
hers ;  and  that  the  principle  of  the  exclusion  of  females 
from  the  succession,  if  now  established,  would  operate 
to  the  disqualification  of  their  only  child,  who  was  a 
daughter.  By  these  and  similar  arguments  the  queen 
succeeded  in  soothing  her  offended  husband,  without 
compromising  the  prerogatives  of  her  crown. 

Although  the  principal  body  of  the  nobility,  as  has 
been  stated,  supported  Isabella's  cause,  there  were  a 
few  families,  and  some  of  them  the  most  potent  in  Cas- 
tile, who  seemed  determined  to  abide  the  fortunes  of 
her  rival.  Among  these  was  the  marquis  of  Villena, 
who,  inferior  to  his  father  in  talent  for  intrigue,  was  of 
an  intrepid  spirit,  and  is  commended  by  one  of  the 
Spanish  historians  as  **  the  best  lance  in  the  kingdom." 
His  immense  estates,  stretching  from  Toledo  to  Murcia, 
gave  him  an  extensive  influence  over  the  southern  rt- 

instrument  signed  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  cited  at  length  in  Dor- 
mer's Discursos  varies  de  Historia  (Zaragoza,  1683),  pp.  295-313. — It 
does  not  appear  that  the  settlement  was  ever  confirmed  by,  or  indeed 
presented  to,  the  cortes.  Marina  speaks  of  it,  however,  as  emanating 
from  that  body.  (Teoria,  torn.  ii.  pp.  63,  64.)  From  Pulgar's  state- 
ment, as  well  zsfrom  the  instrument  itself,  it  seems  to  have  been  made 
under  no  other  auspices  or  sanction  than  that  of  the  great  nobility  and 
cavaliers.  Marina's  eagerness  to  find  a  precedent  for  the  interference 
of  the  popular  branch  in  all  the  great  concerns  of  government  has 
usually  quickened,  but  sometimes  clouded,  his  optics.  In  the  present 
instance  he  has  undoubtedly  confounded  the  irregular  proceedings  of 
the  aristocracy  exclusively  with  the  deliberate  acts  of  the  legislature. 


244 


ACCESSION  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


gions  of  New  Castile.  The  duke  of  Arevalo  possessed 
a  similar  interest  in  the  frontier  province  of  Estrema- 
dura.  With  these  were  combined  the  grand  master  of 
Calatrava  and  his  brother,  together  with  the  young 
marquis  of  Cadiz,  and,  as  it  soon  appeared,  the  arch- 
bishop of  Toledo.  This  latter  dignitary,  whose  heart 
had  long  swelled  with  secret  jealousy  at  the  rising  for- 
tunes of  the  cardinal  Mendoza,  could  no  longer  brook 
the  ascendency  which  that  prelate's  consummate  saga- 
city and  insinuating  address  had  given  him  over  the 
counsels  of  his  young  sovereigns.  After  some  awk- 
ward excuses,  he  abruptly  withdrew  to  his  own  estates ; 
nor  could  the  most  conciliatory  advances  on  the  part 
of  the  queen,  nor  the  deprecatory  letters  of  the  old 
king  of  Aragon,  soften  his  inflexible  temper,  or  induce 
him  to  resume  his  station  at  the  court ;  until  it  soon 
became  apparent,  from  his  correspondence  with  Isa- 
bella's enemies,  that  he  was  busy  in  undermining  the 
fortunes  of  the  very  individual  whom  he  had  so  zeal- 
ously labored  to  elevate." 

Under  the  auspices  of  this  coalition,  propositions 
were  made  to  Alfonso  the  Fifth,  king  of  Portugal,  to 
vindicate  the  title  of  his  niece  Joanna  to  the  throne  of 
Castile,  and,  by  espousing  her,  to  secure  to  himself  the 
same  rich  inheritance.  An  exaggerated  estimate  was 
at  the  same  time  exhibited  of  the  resources  of  the  con- 
federates, which,  when  combined  with  those  of  Portu- 

»'  Alonso  de  Palencia,  Cor6nica,  MS.,  part,  a,  cap.  94. — Garibay, 
Compendio,  lib.  18,  cap.  3. — Bernaldez,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap. 
10,  II. — Pulgar,  Letras  (Madrid,  1775),  let.  3,  al  Arzobispo  de  Toledo. 
—The  archbishop's  jealousy  of  Cardinal  Mendoza  is  uniformly  re- 
ported by  the  Spanish  writers  as  the  true  cause  of  his  defection  from 
the  queen. 


ly^A'    OF  THE  SUCCESSION. 


«4S 


gal,  would  readily  enable  them  to  crush  the  usurpers, 
unsupported  as  the  latter  must  be  by  the  co-operation 
of  Aragon,  whose  arms  already  found  sufficient  occupa- 
tion with  the  French. 

Alfonso,  whose  victories  over  the  Barbary  Moors  had 
given  him  the  cognomen  of  "  the  African,"  was  pre- 
cisely of  a  character  to  be  dazzled  by  the  nature  of  this 
enterprise.  The  protection  of  an  injured  princess,  his 
near  relative,  was  congenial  with  the  spirit  of  chivalry; 
while  the  conquest  of  an  opulent  territory,  adjacent  to 
his  own,  would  not  only  satisfy  his  dreams  of  glory, 
but  the  more  solid  cravings  of  avarice.  In  this  dispo- 
sition he  was  confirmed  by  his  son.  Prince  John,  whose 
hot  and  enterprising  temper  found  a  nobler  scope  for 
ambition  in  such  a  war  than  in  the  conquest  of  a  horde 
of  African  savages." 

Still  there  were  a  few  among  Alfonso's  counsellors 
possessed  of  sufficient  coolness  to  discern  the  difficulties 
of  the  undertaking.  They  reminded  him  that  the  Cas- 
tilian  nobles  on  whom  he  principally  relied  were  the 
very  persons  who  had  formerly  been  most  instrumental 
in  defeating  the  claims  of  Joanna  and  securing  the  suc- 
cession to  her  rival  j  that  Ferdinand  was  connected  by 
blood  with  the  most  powerful  families  of  Castile ;  that 
the  great  body  of  the  people,  the  middle  as  well  as  the 
lower  classes,  were  fully  penetrated  not  only  with  a 
conviction  of  the  legality  of  Isabella's  title,  but  with  a 
deep  attachment  to  her  person ;  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  their  proverbial  hatred  of  Portugal  would  make 


»»  Ruy  de  Pina,  Chronica  d'el  Rey  Alfonso  V.,  cap.  173,  apud  Col- 
lec9ao  de  Livros  in^ditos  de  Historia  Portugueza  (Lisboa,  1790-93), 
torn.  i. 


'  1 


246     ACCESSION  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 

them  too  impatient  of  interference  from  that  quarter 
to  admit  the  prospect  of  permanent  success. '^ 

These  objections,  sound  as  they  were,  were  overruled 
by  John's  impetuosity  and  the  ambition  or  avarice  of 
his  father.  War  was  accordingly  resolved  on  ;  and  Al- 
fonso, after  a  vaunting  and,  as  may  be  supposed,  in- 
effectual summons  to  the  Castilian  sovereigns  to  resign 
their  crown  in  favor  of  Joanna,  prepared  for  the  im- 
mediate invasion  of  the  kingdom  at  the  head  of  an 
army  amounting,  according  to  the  Portuguese  histo- 
rians, to  five  thousand  six  hundred  horse  and  fourteen 
thousand  foot.  This  force,  though  numerically  not  so 
formidable  as  might  have  been  expected,  comprised  the 
flower  of  the  Portuguese  chivalry,  burning  with  the 
hope  of  reaping  similar  laurels  to  those  won  of  old  by 
their  fathers  on  the  plains  of  Aljubarrotta ;  while  its 
deficiency  in  numbers  was  to  be  amply  compensated 
by  recruits  from  the  disaffected  party  in  Castile,  who 
would  eagerly  flock  to  its  banners  on  its  advance  across 
the  borders.  At  the  same  time  negotiations  were  en- 
tered into  with  the  king  of  France,  who  was  invited  to 
make  a  descent  upon  Biscay,  by  a  promise,  somewhat 
premature,  of  a  cession  of  the  conquered  territory. 


'3  The  ancient  rivalry  between  the  two  nations  was  exasperated  into 
the  most  deadly  rancor  by  the  fatal  defeat  at  Aljubarrotta,  in  1235,  in 
which  fell  the  flower  of  the  Castilian  nobility.  King  John  I.  wore 
mourning,  it  is  said,  to  the  day  of  his  death,  in  commemoration  of  this 
disaster.  (Faria  y  Sousa,  Europa  Portuguesa,  tom,  ii.  pp.  394-396. — 
La  C16de,  Hist,  de  Portugal,  tom.  iii.  pp.  357-359.)  Pulgar,  the  sec- 
retary of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  addressed,  by  their  order,  a  letter 
of  remonstrance  to  the  king  of  Portugal,  in  which  he  endeavors,  by 
numerous  arguments  founded  on  expediency  and  justice,  to  dissuade 
him  from  his  meditated  enterprise.     Pulgar,  Letras,  no.  7. 


lyA^  OF  THE  SUCCESSION. 


247 


Early  in  May  (1475),  ^^^  ^^^%  of  Portugal  put  his 
army  in  motion,  and,  entering  Castile  by  the  way  of 
Estremadura,  held  a  northerly  course  towards  Placen- 
cia.  where  he  was  met  by  the  duke  of  Arevalo  and  the 
marquis  of  Villena,  and  by  the  latter  nobleman  pre- 
sented to  the  princess  Joanna,  his  destined  bride.  On 
the  1 3th  of  the  month  he  was  affianced  with  all  be- 
coming pomp  to  this  lady,  then  scarcely  thirteen  years 
of  age ;  and  a  messenger  was  despatched  to  the  court 
of  Rome,  to  solicit  a  dispensation  for  their  marriage, 
rendered  necessary  by  the  consanguinity  of  the  parties. 
The  royal  pair  were  then  proclaimed,  with  the  usu.t1 
solemnities,  sovereigns  of  Castile ;  and  circulars  were 
transmitted  to  the  different  cities,  setting  forth  Joanna's 
title  and  requiring  their  allegiance.'^ 

After  some  days  given  to  festivity,  the  army  resumed 
its  march,  still  in  a  northerly  direction,  upon  Arevalo, 
where  Alfonso  determined  to  await  the  arrival  of  the 
reinforcements  which  he  expected  from  his  Castilian 
allies.  Had  he  struck  at  once  into  the  southern  dis- 
tricts of  Castile,  where  most  of  those  friendly  to  his 
cause  were  to  be  found,  and  immediately  commenced 
active  operations  with  the  aid  of  the  marquis  of  Cadiz, 
who  it  was  understood  was  prepared  to  support  him  in 

•*  Ruy  de  Pina,  Chronica  d'el  Rey  Alfonso  V.,  cap.  174-178. — Ber- 
naldez,  Reyes  Cat6Ucos,  MS.,  cap.  16,  17,  i3. — Bernaldez  states  that 
Alfonso,  previously  to  his  invasion,  caused  largesses  of  plate  and  money 
to  be  distributed  among  the  Castilian  nobles  whom  he  imagined  to  be 
well  affected  towards  him.  Some  of  them,  the  duke  of  Alva  in  par- 
ticular,  received  his  presents  and  used  them  in  the  cause  of  Isabella. 
— Faria  y  Sousa,  Europa  Portuguesa,  tom.  ii.  pp.  396-398. — Zurita, 
Anales,  tom.  iv.  fol.  230-240. — La  C16de,  Hist,  de  Portugal,  tom.  iii. 
pp.  360-362. — Pulgar,  Cr6nica,  p.  51. — L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memora- 
bles,  fol.  156.  — Oviedo.  Qnincuagenas,  MS.,  bat.  i,  quinc.  2,  dial.  3. 


Bii9 


248     ACCESSION  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 

that  quarter,  it  is  difficult  to  say  what  might  have  been 
the  result.  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  were  so  wholly  un- 
prepared at  the  time  of  Alfonso' i:  invasion,  that  it  is 
said  they  could  scarcely  bring  five  hundred  horse  to 
oppose  it.  By  this  opportune  delay  at  Arevalo  they 
obtained  space  for  preparation.  Both  of  them  were 
indefatigable  in  their  efforts.  Isabella,  we  are  told, 
was  frequently  engaged  through  the  whole  night  in 
dictating  despatches  to  her  secretaries.  She  visited  in 
person  such  of  the  garrisoned  towns  as  required  to  be 
confirmed  in  their  allegiance,  performing  long  and 
painful  journeys  on  horseback  with  surprising  celerity, 
and  enduring  fatigues  which,  as  she  was  at  that  time  in 
delicate  health,  wellnigh  proved  fatal  to  her  constitu- 
tion.'s  On  an  excursion  to  Toledo,  she  determined  to 
make  one  effort  more  to  regain  the  confidence  of  her 
ancient  minister,  the  archbishop.  She  accordingly  sent 
an  envoy  to  inform  him  of  her  intention  to  wait  on 
him  in  person  at  his  residence  in  Alcala  de  Henares. 
But  as  the  surly  prelate,  far  from  being  moved  by  this 
condescension,  returned  for  answer  that,  **  if  the  queen 
entered  by  one  door,  he  would  go  out  at  the  other," 
she  did  not  choose  to  compromise  her  dignity  by  any 
further  advances. 

By  Isabella's  extraordinary  exertions,  as  well  as  those 
of  her  husband,  the  latter  found  himself,  in  the  be- 
ginning of  July,  at  the  head  of  a  force  amounting 
in  all  to  four  thousand  men-at-arms,  eight  thousand 
light  horse,  and  thirty  thousand  foot,  an  ill  disciplined 

'S  The  queen,  who  was  at  that  time  in  a  state  of  pregnancy,  brought 
on  a  miscarriage  by  her  incessant  personal  exposure  Zurita,  Anales, 
torn.  iv.  fol.  234. 


PV^IJ!   OF   THE  SUCCESSION. 


249 


militia,  chiefly  drawn  from  the  mountainous  districts 
of  the  north,  which  manifested  peculiar  devotion  to  his 
cause;  his  partisans  in  the  south  being  preoccupied 
with  suppressing  domestic  revolt,  and  with  incursions 
on  the  frontiers  of  Portugal.'* 

Meanwhile  Alfonso,  after  an  unprofitable  detention 
of  nearly  two  months  at  Arevalo,  marched  on  Toro, 
which,  by  a  preconcertc  d  agreement,  was  delivered  into 
his  hands  by  the  governor  of  the  city,  although  the 
fortress,  under  the  conduct  of  a  woman,  continued  to 
maintain  a  gallant  defence.  While  occupied  with  its 
reduction,  Alfonso  was  invited  to  receive  the  submis- 
sion of  the  adjacent  city  and  castle  of  Zamora.  The 
defection  of  these  places,  two  of  the  most  considera- 
ble in  the  province  of  Leon,  and  peculiarly  important 
to  the  king  of  Portugal  from  their  vicinity  to  his  do- 
minions, was  severely  felt  by  Ferdinand,  who  deter- 
mined to  advance  at  once  against  his  rival  and  bring 
their  quarrel  to  the  issue  of  a  battle ;  in  this,  acting  in 
opposition  to  the  more  cautious  counsel  of  his  father, 
who  recommended  the  policy,  usually  judged  most 
prudent  for  an  invaded  country,  of  acting  on  the 
defensive,  instead  of  risking  all  on  the  chances  of  a 
single  action. 

Ferdinand  arrived  before  Toro  on  the  19th  of  July, 
and  immediately  drew  up  his  army  before  its  walls  in 
order  of  battle.  As  the  king  of  Portugal,  however, 
still  kept  within  his  defences,  Ferdinand  sent  a  herald 
into  his  camp,  to  defy  him  to  a  fair  field  of  fight  with 

»*  Carbajal,  Anales,  MS.,  afio  75. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat6Iicos,  pp.  45- 
55. — Ferreras,  Hist.  d'Espagne,  torn.  vii.  p.  411. — Bemaldez,  Reyes 
Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  23. 


t; 


111  I 


% 


250 


ACCESS/OAT  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


his  whole  army,  or,  if  he  declined  this,  to  invite  him  to 
decide  their  differences  by  personal  combat.  Alfonso 
accepted  the  latter  alternative;  but,  a  dispute  arising 
respecting  the  guaranty  for  the  performance  of  the 
engagements  on  either  side,  the  whole  affair  evaporated, 
as  usual,  in  an  empty  vaunt  of  chivalry. 

The  Castilian  army,  from  the  haste  with  which  it  had 
been  mustered,  was  wholly  deficient  in  battering  artil- 
lery, and  in  other  means  for  annoying  a  fortified  city ; 
and,  as  its  communications  were  cut  off  in  consequence 
of  the  neighboring  fortresses  being  in  possession  of  the 
enemy,  it  soon  became  straitened  for  provisions.  It 
was  accordingly  decided  in  a  council  of  war  to  retreat 
without  further  delay.  No  sooner  was  this  determi- 
nation known  than  it  excited  general  dissatisfaction 
throughout  the  camp.  The  soldiers  loudly  complained 
that  the  king  was  betrayed  by  his  nobles ;  and  a  party 
of  over-loyal  Biscayans,  inflamed  by  the  suspicions  of 
a  conspiracy  against  his  person,  actually  broke  into 
the  church  where  Ferdinand  was  conferring  with  his 
officers,  and  bore  him  off  in  their  arms  to  his  own 
tent,  notwithstanding  his  reiterated  explanations  and 
remonstrances.  The  ensuing  retreat  was  conducted 
in  so  disorderly  a  manner  by  the  mutinous  soldiery 
that  Alfonso,  says  a  contemporary,  had  he  but  sallied 
with  two  thousand  horse,  might  have  routed  and 
perhaps  annihilated  the  whole  army.  Some  of  the 
troops  were  detached  to  reinforce  the  garrisons  of 
the  loyal  cities,  but  most  of  them  dispersed  again 
among  their  native  mountains.  The  citadel  of  Toro 
soon  afterwards  capitulated.  The  archbishop  of  Toledo, 
considering  these  events  as  decisive  of  the  fortunes  of 


PyAA'   OF  THE  SUCCESSION. 


251 


the  war,  now  openly  joined  the  king  of  Portugal  at  the 
head  of  five  hundred  lances,  boasting  at  the  same  time 
that  he  "had  raised  Isabella  from  the  distaff,  and  would 
soon  send  her  back  to  it  again. "'' 

So  disastrous  an  introduction  to  the  campaign  might 
indeed  well  fill  Isabella's  bosom  with  anxiety.  The 
revolutionary  movements  which  had  so  long  agitated 
Castile  had  so  far  unsettled  every  man's  political  prin- 
ciples, and  the  allegiance  of  even  the  most  loyal  hung 
so  loosely  about  them,  that  it  was  difficult  to  estimate 
how  far  it  might  be  shaken  by  such  a  blow  occurring 
at  this  crisis.'^  Fortunately,  Alfonso  was  in  no  condi- 
tion to  profit  by  his  success.  His  Castilian  allies  had 
experienced  the  greatest  difficulty  in  enlisting  their 
vassals  in  the  Portuguese  cause,  and,  far  from  furnish- 
ing him  with  the  contingents  which  he  had  expected, 
found  sufficient  occupation  in  the  defence  of  their  own 
territories  against  the  loyal  partisans  of  Isabella.  At 
the  same  time,  numerous  squadrons  of  light  cavalry 
from  Estiremadura  and  Andalusia,  penetrating  into 
Portugal,  carried  the  most  terrible  desolation  over  the 
whole  extent  of  its  unprotected  borders.  The  Portu- 
guese knights  loudly  murmured  at  being  cooped  up  in 
Toro  while  their  own  country  was  made  the  theatre 
of  war;  and  Alfonso  saw  himself  under  the  necessity 


»7  Bemaldez,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  18. — Faria  y  Sousa,  Europa 
Portuguesa,  torn.  ii.  pp.  398-400. — Pulgar,  Cr6nica,  pp.  55-60. — Ruy 
de  Pina,  Chron.  d'el  Rey  Alfonso  V.,  cap.  179. — La  Cl^de,  Hist,  de 
Portugal,  torn.  iii.  p.  366. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  240-243. 

18  "  Pues  no  OS  maravilleis  de  eso,"  says  Oviedo,  in  relation  to  these 
troubles,  "que  no  solo  entre  hermanos  suele  haber  esas  diferencias, 
mas  entre  padre  <^  hijo  lo  vimos  ayer,  como  suelen  decir."  Quincua* 
genas,  MS.,  bat.  i,  quinc.  2,  dial.  3. 


25* 


ACCESSION  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


m  I 


i 


of  detaching  so  considerable  a  portion  of  his  army  for 
the  defence  of  his  frontier  as  entirely  to  cripple  his 
future  operations.  So  deeply,  indeed,  was  he  impressed 
by  these  circumstances  with  the  difficulty  of  his  enter- 
prise, that,  in  a  negotiation  with  the  Castilian  sovereigns 
at  this  time,  he  expressed  a  willingness  to  resign  his 
claims  to  their  crown  in  consideration  of  the  cession 
of  Galicia,  together  with  the  cities  of  Toro  and  Za- 
mora,  and  a  considerable  sum  of  money.  Ferdinand 
and  his  ministers,  it  is  reported,  would  have  accepted 
the  proposal;  but  Isabella,  although  acquiescing  in  the 
stipulated  money  payment,  would  not  consent  to  the 
dismemberment  of  a  single  inch  of  the  Castilian  terri- 
tory. 

In  the  mean  time  both  the  queen  and  her  husband, 
undismayed  by  past  reverses,  were  making  every  exer- 
tion for  the  reorganization  of  an  army  on  a  more  effi- 
cient footing.  To  accomplish  this  object,  an  additional 
supply  of  funds  became  necessary,  since  the  treasure 
of  King  Henry,  delivered  into  their  hands  by  Andres 
de  Cabrera  at  Segovia,  had  been  exhausted  by  the 
preceding  operations.*'  The  old  king  of  Aragcn  ad- 
vised them  to  imitate  their  ancestor  Henry  the  Second, 
of  glorious  memory,  by  making  liberal  grants  and 
alienations  in  favor  of  their  subjects,  which  they  might. 


\    I 


I 


'9  The  royal  coffers  were  found  to  contain  about  10,000  marks  of 
silver.  (Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61.,  p.  54.)  Isabella  presented  Cabrera  with 
a  golden  goblet  from  her  table,  engaging  that  a  similar  present  should 
be  regularly  made  to  him  and  his  successors  on  the  anniversary  of  his 
surrender  of  Segovia.  She  subsequently  gave  a  more  solid  testimony 
of  her  gratitude,  by  raising  him  to  the  rank  of  marquis  of  Moya,  with 
the  grant  of  an  estate  suitable  to  his  new  dignity. — Oviedo,  Quincua* 
genas,  MS.,  bat.  i,  quinc.  i,  dial.  23. 


I   I 


t  . 


tVA/l   OF  THE  SUCCESSION. 


253 


when  more  firmly  seated  on  the  throne,  resume  at 
pleasure.  Isabella,  however,  chose  rather  to  trust  to 
the  patriotism  of  her  people  than  have  recourse  to  so 
unworthy  a  stratagem.  She  accordingly  convened  an 
assembly  of  the  states,  in  the  month  of  August,  1475, 
at  Medina  del  Campo.  As  the  nation  had  been  too  far 
impoverished  under  the  late  reign  to  admit  of  fresh  ex- 
actions, a  most  extraordinary  expedient  was  devised  for 
meeting  the  stipulated  requisitions.  It  was  proposed 
to  deliver  into  the  royal  treasury  half  the  amount  of 
plate  belonging  to  the  churches  throughout  the  king- 
dom, to  be  redeemed  in  the  term  of  three  years,  for 
the  sum  of  thirty  cuentos,  or  millions,  of  maravedis. 
The  clergy,  who  were  very  generally  attached  to  Isa- 
bella's interests,  far  from  discouraging  this  startling 
proposal,  endeavored  to  vanquish  the  queen's  repug- 
nance to  it  by  arguments  and  pertinent  illustrations 
drawn  from  Scripture.  This  transaction  certainly  ex- 
hibits a  degree  of  disinterestedness,  on  the  part  of  this 
body,  most  unusual  in  that  age  and  country,  as  well  as 
a  generous  confidence  in  the  good  faith  of  Isabella,  of 
which  she  proved  herself  worthy  by  the  punctuality 
with  which  she  redeemed  it." 


!l 


»  The  indignation  of  Dr.  Salazar  de  Mendoza  is  roused  by  this  mis- 
application of  the  church's  money,  which  he  avers  "no  necessity  what- 
ever could  justify."  This  worthy  canon  flourished  in  the  seventeenth 
century.  (Cron.  del  Gran  Cardenal.  p.  147. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61.,  pp. 
60-62. — Faria  y  Sousa,  Europa  Portuguesa,  tom.  ii.  p.  400. — Rades  y 
Andrada,  Las  tres  Ordenes,  part,  i,  fol.  67. — Zurita,  Anales,  tom.  iv. 
fol.  243. — Bemaldez,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  18,  20.)  Zufliga 
gives  some  additional  particulars  respecting  the  grant  of  the  cortes, 
which  I  do  not  find  verified  by  any  contemporary  author.  Annales  de 
Sevilla,  p.  372. 


254 


ACCESSION  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA, 


Thus  provided  with  the  necessary  funds,  the  sover- 
eigns set  about  enforcing  new  levies  and  bringing 
them  under  better  discipline,  as  well  as  providing  for 
their  equipment  in  a  manner  more  suitable  to  the  exi- 
gencies of  the  service  than  was  done  for  the  preceding 
army.  The  remainder  of  the  summer  and  the  ensuing 
autumn  were  consumed  in  these  preparations,  as  well 
as  in  placing  their  fortified  towns  in  a  proper  posture 
of  defence,  and  in  the  reduction  of  such  places  as  held 
out  against  them.  The  king  of  Portugal,  all  this  while, 
lay  with  his  diminished  forces  in  Toro,  making  a  sally  on 
one  occasion  only,  for  the  relief  of  his  friends,  which 
was  frustrated  by  the  sleepless  vigilance  of  Isabella. 

Early  in  December,  Ferdinand  passed  from  the  siege 
of  Burgos,  in  Old  Castile,  to  Zamora,  whose  inhabitants 
expressed  a  desire  to  return  to  their  ancient  allegiance ; 
and,  with  the  co-operation  of  the  citizens,  supported 
by  a  large  detachment  from  his  main  army,  he  pre- 
pared to  invest  its  citadel.  As  the  possession  of  this 
post  would  effectually  intercept  Alfonso's  communica- 
tions with  his  own  country,  he  determined  to  relieve 
it  at  every  hazard,  and  for  this  purpose  despatched  a 
messenger  into  Portugal,  requiring  his  son.  Prince 
John,  to  reinforce  him  with  such  levies  as  he  could 
speedily  raise.  All  parties  now  looked  forward  with 
eagerness  to  a  general  battle,  as  to  a  termination  of  the 
evils  of  this  long-protracted  war. 

The  Portuguese  prince,  having  with  difficulty  as- 
sembled a  corps  amounting  to  two  thousand  lances  and 
eight  thousand  infantry,  took  a  northerly  circuit  round 
Galicia,  and  effected  a  junction  with  his  father  in  Toro, 
on  the  14th  of  February,  1476.     Alfonso,  thus  rein- 


ll'AA'   OF  THE  SUCCESSION. 


aS5 


forced,  transmitted  a  pompous  circular  to  the  pope,  the 
king  of  France,  his  own  dominions,  and  those  well 
affected  to  him  in  Castile,  proclaiming  his  immediate 
intention  of  taking  the  usurper,  or  of  driving  him  from 
the  kingdom.  On  the  night  of  the  17th,  having  first 
provided  for  the  security  of  the  city  by  leaving  in  it  a 
powerful  reserve,  Alfonso  drew  off  the  residue  of  his 
army,  probably  not  much  exceeding  three  thousand 
five  hundred  horse  and  five  thousand  foot,  well  pro- 
vided with  artillery  and  with  arquebuses,  which  latter 
engine  was  still  of  so  clumsy  and  unwieldy  construc- 
tion as  not  to  have  entirely  superseded  the  ancient 
weapons  of  European  warfare.  The  Portuguese  army, 
traversing  the  bridge  of  Toro,  pursued  their  march 
along  the  southern  side  of  the  Douro,  and  reached 
Zamora,  distant  only  a  few  leagues,  before  the  dawn." 
At  break  of  day,  the  Castilians  were  surprised  by  the 
array  of  floating  banners,  and  martial  panoply  glitter- 
ing in  the  sun,  from  the  opposite  side  of  the  river, 
while  the  discharges  of  artillery  still  more  unequivo- 
cally announced  the  presence  of  the  enemy.  Ferdi- 
nand could  scarcely  believe  that  the  Portuguese  mon- 
arch, whose  avowed  object  had  been  the  relief  of  the 
castle  of  Zamora,  should  have  selected  a  position  so 
obviously  unsuitable  for  this  purpose.  The  interven- 
tion of  the  river,  between  him  and  the  fortress  situated 
at  the  northern  extremity  of  the  town,  prevented  him 

«  Carbajal,  Anales,  MS.,  alios  75,  76. — Ruy  de  Pina,  Chron.  d'el 
Rey  Alfonso  V.,  cap.  187,  189. — Bemaldez,  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS., 
cap.  20,  22. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  pp.  63-78. — L.  Marineo,  Cosas 
memorables,  fol.  156. — Faria  ySousa,  Europa  Portuguesa,  torn.  ii.  pp. 
401, 404. — Several  of  the  contemporary  Castilian  historians  compute 
the  Portuguese  army  at  double  the  amount  given  in  the  text. 


256 


ACCESSION  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


from  relieving  it,  either  by  throwing  succors  into  it,  or 
by  annoying  the  Castilian  troops,  who,  intrenched  in 
comparative  security  within  the  walls  and  houses  of  the 
city,  were  enabled  by  means  of  certain  elevated  posi- 
tions, well  garnished  with  artillery,  to  inflict  much 
heavier  injury  on  their  opponents  than  they  could 
possibly  receive  from  them.  Still  Ferdinand's  men, 
exposed  to  the  double  fire  of  the  fortress  and  the  be- 
siegers, would  willingly  have  come  to  an  engagement 
with  the  latter ;  but  the  river,  swollen  by  winter  tor- 
rents, was  not  fordable,  and  the  bridge,  the  only  direct 
avenue  to  the  city,  was  enfiladed  by  the  enemy's  cannon, 
so  as  to  render  a  sally  in  that  direction  altogether  im- 
practicable. During  this  time,  Isabella's  squadrons 
of  light  cavalry,  hovering  on  the  skirts  of  the  Portu- 
guese camp,  effectually  cut  off  its  supplies,  and  soon 
reduced  it  to  great  straits  for  subsistence.  This  cir- 
cumstance, together  with  the  tidings  of  the  rapid  ad- 
vance of  additional  forces  to  the  support  of  Ferdinand, 
determined  Alfonso,  contrary  to  all  expectation,  on  an 
immediate  retreat ;  and  accordingly,  on  the  morning 
of  the  ist  of  March,  being  little  less  than  a  fortnight 
from  the  time  in  which  he  commenced  this  empty 
gasconade,  the  Portuguese  army  quitted  its  position 
before  Zamora,  with  the  same  silence  and  celerity  with 
which  it  had  occupied  it. 

Ferdinand's  troops  would  instantly  have  pushed  after 
the  fugitives,  but  the  latter  had  demolished  the  southern 
extremity  of  the  bridge  before  their  departure  j  so  that, 
although  some  few  effected  an  immediate  passage  in 
boats,  the  great  body  of  the  army  was  necessarily  de- 
tained until  the  repairs  were  completed,  which  occu- 


fT^A*   OF  THE  SUCCESSION. 


257 


pied  more  than  three  hours.  With  all  the  expedition 
they  could  use,  therefore,  and  leaving  their  artillery 
behind  them,  they  did  not  succeed  in  coming  up  with 
the  enemy  until  nearly  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
as  the  latter  was  defiling  through  a  narrow  pass  formed 
by  a  crest  of  precipitous  hills  on  the  one  side,  and  the 
Douro  on  the  other,  at  the  distance  of  about  five  miles 
from  the  city  of  Toro." 

A  council  of  war  was  then  called,  to  decide  on  the 
expediency  of  an  immediate  assault.  It  was  objected, 
that  the  strong  position  of  Toro  would  effectually  cover 
the  retreat  of  the  Portuguese  in  case  of  their  discom- 
fiture ;  that  they  would  speedily  be  reinforced  by  fresh 
recruits  from  that  city,  which  would  make  them  more 
than  a  match  for  Ferdinand's  army,  exhausted  by  a 
toilsome  march,  as  well  as  by  its  long  fast,  which  it  had 
not  broken  since  the  morning ;  and  that  the  celerity 
with  which  it  had  moved  had  compelled  it  not  only  to 
abandon  its  artillery,  but  to  leave  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  the  heavy-armed  infantry  in  the  rear.  Not- 
withstanding the  weight  of  these  objections,  such 
were  the  high  spirit  of  the  troops  and  their  eagerness 
to  come  to  action,  sharpened  by  the  view  of  the 
quarry,  which  after  a  wearisome  chase  seemed  ready 
to  fall  into  their  hands,  that  they  were  thought  more 
than  sufficient  to  counterbalance  every  physical  disad- 
vantage ;  and  the  question  of  battle  was  decided  in 
the  affirmative. 

""  Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  pp.  82-85. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn,  iv,  fol. 
252,  253. — Faria  y  Sousa,  Europa  Portuguesa,  torn.  ii.  pp.  404,  405. — 
Bemaldez,  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS.,  cap.  23. — Ruy  de  Pina,  Chron.  d'el 
Rey  Alfonso  V.,  cap.  190. 
Vol.  I.— 17 


\\ 


;3 


ACCESSION  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


\ 


As  the  Castilian  army  emerged  from  the  defile  into  a 
wide  and  open  plain,  they  found  that  the  enemy  had 
halted,  and  was  already  forming  in  order  of  battle. 
The  king  of  Portugal  led  the  centre,  with  the  arch- 
bishop of  Toledo  on  his  right  wing,  its  extremity  rest- 
ing on  the  Douro ;  while  the  left,  comprehending  the 
arquebusiers  and  the  strength  of  the  cavalry,  was  placed 
under  the  command  of  his  son.  Prince  John.  The 
numerical  force  of  the  two  armies,  although  in  favor 
of  the  Portuguese,  was  nearly  equal,  amounting  proba- 
bly in  each  to  less  than  ten  thousand  men,  about  one- 
third  being  cavalry.  Ferdinand  took  his  station  in  the 
centre,  opposite  his  rival,  having  the  admiral  and  the 
duke  of  Alva  on  his  left ;  while  his  right  wing,  dis- 
tributed into  six  battles  or  divisions,  under  their  several 
commanders,  was  supported  by  a  detachment  of  men- 
at-arms  from  the  provinces  of  Leon  and  Galicia. 

The  action  commenced  in  this  quarter.  The  Cas- 
tilians,  raising  the  war-cry  of  "  St.  James  and  St. 
Lazarus,"  advanced  on  the  enemy's  left  under  Prince 
John,  but  were  saluted  with  such  a  brisk  and  well- 
directed  fire  from  his  arquebusiers,  that  their  ranks 
were  disconcerted.  The  Portuguese  men-at-arms, 
charging  them  at  the  same  time,  augmented  their  con- 
fusion, and  compelled  them  to  fall  back  precipitately 
on  the  narrow  pass  in  their  rear,  where,  being  sup- 
ported by  some  fresh  detachments  from  the  reserve, 
they  were  with  difficulty  rallied  by  their  officers,  and 
again  brought  into  the  field.  In  the  mean  while,  Fer- 
dinand closed  with  the  enemy's  centre,  and  the  action 
soon  became  general  along  the  whole  line.  The  battle 
raged  with  redoubled  fierceness  in  the  quarter  where 


IVA/l   OF  THE  SUCCESSION. 


a59 


the  presence  of  the  two  monarchs  infused  new  ardor 
into  their  soldiers,  who  fought  as  if  conscious  that  this 
struggle  was  to  decide  the  fate  of  their  masters.  The 
lances  were  shivered  at  the  first  encounter,  and,  as  the 
ranks  of  the  two  armies  mingled  with  each  other,  the 
men  fought  hand  to  hand  with  their  swords,  with  a 
fury  sharpened  by  the  ancient  rivalry  of  the  two  nations, 
making  the  whole  a  contest  of  physical  strength  rather 
than  skill. "3 

The  royal  standard  of  Portugal  was  torn  to  shreds 
in  the  attempt  to  seize  it  on  the  one  side  and  to  pre- 
serve it  on  the  other ;  while  its  gallant  bearer,  Edward 
de  Almeyda,  after  losing  first  his  right  arm,  and  then 
his  left,  in  its  defence,  held  it  firmly  with  his  teeth 
until  he  was  cut  down  by  the  assailants.  The  armor 
of  this  knight  was  to  be  seen  as  late  as  Mariana's  time, 
in  the  cathedral  church  of  Toledo,  where  it  was  pre- 
served as  a  trophy  of  this  desperate  act  of  heroism, 
which  brings  to  mind  a  similar  feat  recorded  in  Grecian 
story. 

The  old  archbishop  of  Toledo,  and  the  cardinal  Men- 
doza,  who,  like  his  reverend  rival,  had  exchanged  the 
crosier  for  the  corselet,  were  to  be  seen  on  that  day  in 
the  thickest  of  the  melee.  The  holy  wars  with  the  in- 
fidel perpetuated  the  unbecoming  spectacle  of  militant 
ecclesiastics  among  the  Spaniards,  to  a  still  later  period, 
and  long  after  it  had  disappeared  from  the  rest  of  civil- 
ized Europe. 

«3  Carbajal,  Anales,  MS.,  ano  76, — L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables, 
fol.  158. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  pp.  85-89. — Faria  y  Sousa,  Europa 
Portuguesa,  torn.  ii.  pp.  404,  405. — Bemaldez,  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS., 
cap.  23. — La  Cl^de,  Hist,  de  Portugal,  torn.  iii.  pp.  378-383. — Zurita, 
Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  252-255. 


36o     ACCESSION  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


At  length,  after  an  obstinate  struggle  of  more  than 
three  hours,  the  valor  of  the  Castilian  troops  prevailed, 
and  the  Portuguese  were  seen  to  give  way  in  all  direc- 
tions. The  duke  of  Alva,  by  succeeding  in  turning 
their  flank  while  they  were  thus  vigorously  pressed  in 
front,  completed  their  disorder,  and  soon  converted 
their  retreat  into  a  rout.  Some,  attempting  to  cross 
the  Douro,  were  drowned ;  and  many,  who  endeavored 
to  effect  an  entrance  into  Toro,  were  entangled  in  the 
narrow  defile  of  the  bridge,  and  fell  by  the  sword  of 
their  pursuers,  or  miserably  perished  in  the  river,  which, 
bearing  along  their  mutilated  corpses,  brought  tidings 
of  the  fatal  victory  to  Zamora.  Such  were  the  heat 
and  fury  of  the  pursuit,  that  the  intervening  night, 
rendered  darker  than  usual  by  a  driving  rain-storm, 
alone  saved  the  scattered  remains  of  the  army  from  de- 
struction. Several  Portuguese  companies,  under  favor 
of  this  obscurity,  contrived  to  elude  their  foes  by  shout- 
ing the  Castilian  battle-cry.  Prince  John,  retiring  with 
a  fragment  of  his  broken  squadrons  to  a  neighboring 
eminence,  succeeded,  by  lighting  fires  and  sounding 
his  trumpets,  in  rallying  round  him  a  number  of  fugi- 
tives ;  and,  as  the  position  he  occupied  was  too  strong 
to  be  readily  forced,  and  the  Castilian  troops  were  too 
weary,  and  well  satisfied  with  their  victory,  to  attempt 
it,  he  retained  possession  of  it  till  morning,  when  he 
made  good  his  retreat  into  Toro.  The  king  of  Portu- 
gal, who  was  missing,  was  supposed  to  have  perished 
in  the  battle,  until,  by  advices  received  from  him  late 
on  the  following  day,  it  was  ascertained  that  he  had 
escaped  without  personal  injury,  and  with  three  or  four 
attendants  only,  to  the  fortified  castle  of  Castro  Nuiio, 


fV^X   OF  THE  SCCCESSION. 


361 


some  leagues  distant  from  the  field  of  action,  Numbers 
of  his  troops,  attempting  to  escape  across  the  neighbor- 
ing frontiers  into  their  own  country,  were  maimed  or 
massacred  by  the  Spanish  peasants,  in  retaliation  of  the 
excesses  wantonly  committed  by  them  in  their  invasion 
of  Castile.  Ferdinand,  shocked  at  this  barbarity, 
issued  orders  for  the  protection  of  their  persons,  and 
freely  gave  safe-conducts  to  such  as  desired  to  return 
into  Portugal.  He  even,  with  a  degree  of  humanity 
more  honorable,  as  well  as  more  rare,  than  military 
success,  distributed  clothes  and  money  to  several  pris- 
oners brought  into  Zamora  in  a  state  of  utter  destitu- 
tion, and  enabled  them  to  return  in  safety  to  their  own 
country.  *♦ 

The  Castilian  monarch  remained  on  the  field  of 
battle  till  after  midnight,  when  he  returned  to  Zamora, 
being  followed  in  the  morning  by  the  cardinal  of  Spain 
and  the  admiral  Henriquez,  at  the  head  of  the  victo- 
rious legions.  Eight  standards,  with  the  greater  part  of 
the  baggage,  were  taken  in  the  engagement,  and  more 
than  two  thousand  of  the  enemy  slain  or  made  pris- 
oners.     Queen  Isabella,  on  receiving  tidings  of  the 

34  Faria  y  Sousa  claims  the  honors  of  the  victory  for  the  Portuguese, 
because  Prince  John  kept  the  field  till  morning.  Even  M.  La  Clede, 
with  all  his  deference  to  the  Portuguese  historian,  cannot  swallow  this. 
Faria  y  Sousa,  Europa  Portuguesa,  torn,  ii.  pp.  405-410.— Oviedo, 
Quincuagenas,  MS.,  bat.  i,  quinc.  i,  dial.  8. — Salazar  de  Mendoza, 
Cr6n.  del  Gran  Cardenal,  lib.  i,  cap.  46. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  pp. 
85-90. — L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  158. — Carbajal,  Anales, 
MS.,  ano  76, — Bemaldez,  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS.,  cap.  23. — Ruy  de 
Pina,  Chr6n.  d'el  Rey  Alfonso  V.,  cap.  191. — Ferdinand,  in  allusion  to 
Prince  John,  wrote  to  his  wife,  that,  "  if  it  had  not  been  for  the 
chicken,  the  old  cock  would  have  been  taken."  Garibay,  Compendio, 
lib.  18,  cap.  8. 


: i.    -J. 


262     ACCESSION  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 

event  at  Tordesillas,  where  she  then  was,  ordered  a 
procession  to  the  church  of  St.  Paul  in  the  suburbs,  in 
which  she  herself  joined,  walking  barefoot  with  all 
humility,  and  offered  up  a  devout  thanksgiving  to  the 
God  of  battles  for  the  victory  with  which  he  had 
crowned  her  arms-^s 

It  was  indeed  a  most  auspicious  victory,  not  so  much 
from  the  immediate  loss  inflicted  on  the  enemy,  as 
from  its  moral  influence  on  the  Castilian  nation.  Such 
as  had  before  vacillated  in  their  faith,  and,  in  the 
expressive  language  of  Bernaldez,  *'estaban  aviva 
quien  vence," — ^were  prepared  to  take  sides  with  the 
strongest, — now  openly  proclaimed  their  allegiance  to 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella ;  while  most  of  those  who  had 
been  arrayed  in  arms,  or  had  manifested  by  any  other 
overt  act  their  hostility  to  the  government,  vied  with 
each  other  in  demonstrations  of  the  most  loyal  sub- 
mission, and  sought  to  make  the  best  terms  for  them- 
selves which  they  could.  Among  these  latter,  the  duke 
of  Arevalo,  who  indeed  had  made  overtures  to  this 
effect  some  time  previous  through  the  agency  of  his 
son,  together  with  the  grand  master  of  Calatrava,  and 
his  brother,  the  count  of  Uruena,  experienced  the 
lenity  of  government,  and  were  confirmed  in  the  entire 
possession  of  their  estates.  The  two  principal  delin- 
quents, the  marquis  of  Villena  and  the  archbishop  of 
Toledo,  made  a  show  of  resistance  for  some  time 
longer,  but,  after  witnessing  the  demolition  of  their 

'5  Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  p.  90. — The  sovereigns,  in  compliance 
with  a  previous  vow,  caused  a  superb  monastery,  dedicated  to  St. 
Francis,  to  be  erected  in  Toledo,  with  the  title  of  San  Juan  de  los 
Reyes,  in  commemoration  of  their  victory  over  the  Portuguese.  This 
eiifice  was  still  to  be  seen  in  Mariana's  time. 


if !; 


^AH   OF   THE  SUCCESSION. 


263 


castles,  the  capture  of  their  towns,  the  desertion  of 
their  vassals,  and  the  sequestration  of  their  revenues, 
were  fain  to  purchase  a  pardon  at  the  price  of  the  most 
humble  concessions,  and  the  forfeiture  of  an  ample 
portion  of  their  domains. 

The  castle  of  Zamora,  expecting  no  further  succors 
from  Portugal,  speedily  surrendered,  and  this  event 
was  soon  followed  by  the  reduction  of  Madrid,  Baeza, 
Toro,  and  other  principal  cities ;  so  that,  in  little  more 
than  six  months  from  the  date  of  the  battle,  the  whole 
kingdom,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  insignificant 
posts  still  garrisoned  by  the  enemy,  had  acknowledged 
the  supremacy  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. "^ 

Soon  after  the  victory  of  Toro,  Ferdinand  was  en- 
abled to  concentrate  a  force  amounting  to  fifty  thou- 
sand men,  for  the  purpose  of  repelling  the  French 
from  Guipuscoa,  from  which  they  had  already  twice 
been  driven  by  the  intrepid  natives,  and  whence  they 
again  retired  with  precipitation  on  receiving  news  of 
the  king's  approach. "^ 

Alfonso,  finding  his  authority  in  Castile  thus  rapidly 
melting  away  before  the  rising  influence  of  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella,  withdrew  with  his  virgin  bride  into  Por- 
tugal, where  he  formed  the  resolution  of  visiting  France 
in  person,  and  soliciting  succor  from  his  ancient  ally, 
Louis  the  Eleventh.     In  spite  of  every  remonstrance, 

=*  Rades  y  Andrada,  Las  tres  Ordenes,  torn.  ii.  fol.  79,  80. — Pulgar, 
Reyes  Catolicos,  cap.  48-50,  55,  60 — Ziirita,  Anales,  lib.  19,  cap.  46, 
48,  54,  58. — Ferreras,  Hist.  d'Espagne,  torn.  vii.  pp.  476-478,  517-519, 
546. — Bernaldez,  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS.,  cap.  10. — Oviedo,  Quincuage- 
nas,  MS.,  bat.  i,  quinc.  i,  dial.  8. 

*7  Gaillard,  Rivalit^,  torn.  iii.  pp.  290-292. — Carbajal,  Anales,  MS., 
afio  76, 


1 

m 

264     ACCESSION  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA, 


he  put  this  extraordinary  scheme  into  execution.  He 
reached  France,  with  a  retinue  of  two  hundred  fol- 
lowers, in  the  month  of  September.  He  experienced 
everywhere  the  honors  due  to  his  exalted  rank,  and  to 
the  signal  mark  of  confidence  which  he  thus  exhibited 
towards  the  French  king.  The  keys  of  the  cities  were 
delivered  into  his  hands,  the  prisoners  were  released 
from  their  dungeons,  and  his  progress  was  attended  by 
a  general  jubilee.  His  brother  monarch,  however,  ex- 
cused himself  from  affording  more  substantial  proofs 
of  his  regard,  until  he  should  have  closed  the  war  then 
pending  between  him  and  Burgundy,  and  until  Alfonso 
should  have  fortified  his  title  to  the  Castilian  crown  by 
obtaining  from  the  pope  a  dispensation  for  his  marriage 
with  Joanna. 

The  defeat  and  death  of  the  duke  of  Burgundy, 
whose  camp  before  Nancy  Alfonso  visited  in  the  depth 
of  winter,  with  the  chimerical  purpose  of  effecting 
a  reconciliation  between  him  and  Louis,  removed 
the  former  of  these  impediments;*  as,  in  good  time, 
the  compliance  of  the  pope  did  the  latter.  But  the 
king  of  Portugal  found  himself  no  nearer  the  object  of 
his  negotiations;  and,  after  waiting  a  whole  year  a 
needy  suppliant  at  the  court  of  Louis,  he  at  length 
ascertained  that  his  insidious  host  was  concerting  an 
arrangement  with  his  mortal  foes,  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella. Alfonso,  whose  character  always  had  a  spice 
of    Quixotism   in   it,  seems   to  have  completely  lost 


*  [The  death  of  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  instead  of  closing,  or  avert- 
ing, the  war  for  which  Louis  had  assembled  his  forces,  was  the  signal 
for  its  commencement,  being  followed  by  an  immediate  invasion  of 
the  Burgundian  dominions. — ED.] 


IVA/!   OF  THE  SUCCESSION. 


965 


his  wits  at  this  last  reverse  of  fortune.  Overwhelmed 
with  shame  at  his  own  credulity,  he  felt  himself  unable 
to  encounter  the  ridicule  which  awaited  his  return  to 
Portugal,  and  secretly  withdrew,  with  two  or  three 
domestics  only,  to  an  obscure  village  in  Normandy, 
whence  he  transmitted  an  epistle  to  Prince  John,  his 
son,  declaring  **  that,  as  all  earthly  vanities  were  dead 
within  his  bosom,  he  resolved  to  lay  up  an  imperisha- 
ble crown  by  performing  a  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy 
Land,  and  devoting  himself  to  the  service  of  God  in 
some  retired  monastery;"  and  he  concluded  with  re- 
questing his  son  **  to  assume  the  sovereignty  at  once, 
in  the  same  manner  as  if  he  had  heard  of  his  father's 
death.'"* 

Fortunately  Alfonso's  retreat  was  detected  before  he 
had  time  to  put  his  extravagant  project  in  execution, 
and  his  trusty  followers  succeeded,  though  with  con- 
siderable difficulty,  in  diverting  him  from  it ;  while  tbe 
king  of  France,  willing  to  be  rid  of  his  importunate 
guest,  and  unwilling  perhaps  to  incur  the  odium  of  hav- 
ing driven  him  to  so  desperate  an  extremity  as  that  0^ 
his  projected  pilgrimage,  provided  a  fleet  of  ships  tQ 
transport  him  back  to  his  own  dominions,  where,  to 
complete  the  farce,  he  arrived  just  five  days  after  the 
ceremony  of  his  son's  coronation  as  king  of  Portugal 
(Nov.  15,  1478).  Nor  was  it  destined  that  the  luck- 
less uionarch  should  solace  himself,  as  he  had  hoped, 


^  I 


=8  Bernaldez,  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS.,  cap.  27. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Catpli- 
cos,  cap.  56,  57. — Gaillard,  Rivalite,  torn.  iii.  pp.  290-292. — Zurita, 
Anales,  lib,  19,  cap.  56,  lib.  20,  cap.  10. — Ruy  de  Pina,  Chronica  d'el 
Rey  Alfonso  V.,  cap.  194-202. — Faria  y  Sousa,  Europa  Portuguesa, 
torn.  ii.  pp.  412-415. — Comines,  Memoires,  liv.  5,  chap.  7. 

M 


266     ACCESSION  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


')l\ 


in  the  arms  of  his  youthful  bride;  since  the  pliant 
pontiff,  Sixtus  the  Fourth,  was  ultimately  persuaded  by 
the  court  of  Castile  to  issue*  a  new  bull  overruling  the 
dispensation  formerly  conceded,  on  the  ground  that  it 
had  been  obtained  by  a  misrepresentation  of  facts. 

Prince  John,  whether  influenced  by  filial  piety  or 
prudence,  resigned  the  crown  of  Portugal  to  his  father, 
soon  after  his  return  i**  and  the  old  monarch  was  no 
sooner  reinstated  in  his  authority  than,  burning  with  a 
thirst  for  vengeance,  which  made  him  insensible  to 
every  remonstrance,  he  again  prepared  to  throw  his 
country  into  combustion  by  reviving  his  enterprise 
against  Castile.** 

While  these  hostile  movements  were  in  progress 
(1478),  Ferdinand,  leaving  his  consort  in  possession 
of  a  sufficient  force  for  the  protection  of  the  frontiers, 
made  a  journey  into  Biscay  for  the  purpose  of  an  in- 
terview with  his  father,  the  king  of  Aragon,  to  concert 
measures  for  the  pacification  of  Navarre,  which  still 
continued  to  be  rent  with  those  sanguinary  feuds  that 

=9  According  to  Faria  y  Soiisa,  John  was  walking  along  the  shores 
of  the  Tagus,  with  the  duke  of  Braganza,  and  the  cardinal  archbishop 
of  Lisbon,  when  he  received  the  unexpected  tidings  of  his  father's  re- 
turn to  Portugal.  On  his  inquiring  of  his  attendants  how  he  should 
receive  him,  "  How  but  as  your  king  and  father?"  was  the  reply;  at 
which  John,  knitting  his  brow,  skimmed  a  stone  which  he  held  in 
his  hand,  with  much  violence,  across  the  water.  The  cardinal,  ob- 
serving this,  whispered  to  the  duke  of  Braganza,  "  I  will  take  good 
care  that  that  stone  does  not  rebound  on  me."  Soon  after,  he  left 
Portugal  for  Rome,  where  he  fixed  his  residence.  The  duke  lost  his 
life  on  the  scaffold  for  imputed  treason,  soon  after  John's  accession. — 
Eupopa  Portuguesa,  tom.  ii.  p.  416. 

3°  Comines,  Memoires,  liv.  5,  chap.  7. — Faria  y  Sousa,  Europa  Por- 
tuguesa, tom.  ii.  p.  116. — Zurita,  Anales,  lib.  20,  cap.  25. — Bemaldez, 
Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  27. 


\  W 


PVA/i   OF  THE  SUCCESSION. 


267 


Por- 
aldez, 


were  bequeathed  like  a  precious  legacy  from  one  gen- 
eration to  another. 3'  In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year 
a  treaty  of  peace  was  definitively  adjusted  between  the 
plenipotentiaries  of  Castile  and  France,  at  St.  Jean  de 
Luz,  in  which  it  was  stipulated,  as  a  principal  article, 
that  Louis  the  Eleventh  should  disconnect  himself  from 
his  f  lliance  with  Portugal,  and  give  no  further  support 
to  the  pretensions  of  Joanna.'' 

Thus  released  from  apprehension  in  this  quarter,  the 
sovereigns  were  enabled  to  give  their  undivided  atten- 
tion to  the  defence  of  the  western  borders.  Isabella, 
accordingly,  early  in  the  ensuing  winter,  passed  into 
Estremadura  for  the  purpose  of  repelling  the  Portu- 
guese, and  still  more  of  suppressing  the  insurrectionary 
movements  of  certain  of  her  own  subjects,  who,  en- 
couraged by  the  vicinity  of  Portugal,  carried  on  from 
their  private  fortresses  a  most  desolating  and  predatory 
warfare  over  the  circumjacent  territory.  Private  man- 
sions and  farm-houses  were  pillaged  and  burnt  to  the 
ground,  the  cattle  and  crops  swept  away  in  their  forays, 
the  highways  beset,  so  that  all  travelling  was  at  an  end, 
all  communication  cut  off,  and  a  rich  and  populous  dis- 

3«  This  was  the  first  meeting  between  father  and  son  since  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  latter  to  the  Castilian  throne.  King  John  would  not  allow 
Ferdinand  to  kiss  his  hand ;  he  chose  to  walk  on  his  left ;  he  attended 
him  to  his  quarters,  and,  in  short,  during  the  whole  twenty  days  of 
their  conference,  manifested  towards  his  son  all  the  deference  which, 
as  a  parent,  he  was  entitled  to  receive  from  him.  This  he  did  on  the 
ground  that  Ferdinand,  as  king  of  Castile,  represented  the  elder 
branch  of  Trastamara,  while  he  represented  only  the  younger.  It  will 
not  be  easy  to  meet  with  an  instance  of  more  punctilious  etiquette, 
even  in  Spanish  history. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  cap.  75. 

32  Salazar  de  Mendoid,  Cr6n.  del  Gran  Cardenal,  p.  162. — Zuriia, 
.Anales,  lib.  20,  cap.  25. — Carbajal,  Anales,  MS.,  afto  79. 


( 


■': 


% 


it  p 


Hi 


268     ACCESSION  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA, 

trict  converted  at  once  into  a  desert.  Isabella,  sup- 
ported by  a  body  of  regular  troops  and  a  detachment 
of  the  Holy  Brotherhood,  took  her  station  at  Truxillo, 
as  a  central  position,  whence  she  might  operate  on  the 
various  points  with  greatest  facility.  Her  counsellors 
remonstrated  against  this  exposure  of  her  person  in  the 
very  heart  of  the  disaffected  country ;  but  she  replied 
that  **it  was  not  for  her  to  calculate  perils  or  fatigues 
in  her  own  cause,  nor  by  an  unseasonable  timidity  to 
dishearten  her  friends,  with  whom  she  was  now  resolved 
to  remain  until  she  had  brought  the  war  to  a  conclu- 
sion." She  then  gave  immediate  orders  for  laying 
siege  at  the  same  time  to  the  fortified  towns  of  Medellin, 
Merida,  and  Deleytosa. 

At  this  juncture  the  infanta  Dofia  Beatrix  of  Portu- 
gal, sister-in-law  of  King  Alfonso,  and  maternal  aunt 
of  Isabella,  touched  with  grief  at  the  calamities  in 
which  she  saw  her  country  involved  by  the  chimerical 
ambition  of  her  brother,  offered  herself  as  the  media- 
tor of  peace  between  the  belligerent  nations.  Agree- 
ably to  her  proposal,  an  interview  took  place  between 
her  and  Queen  Isabella  at  the  frontier  town  of  Alcan- 
tara. As  the  conferences  of  the  fair  negotiators  ex- 
perienced none  of  the  embarrassments  usually  incident 
to  such  deliberations,  growing  out  of  jedousy,  distrust, 
and  a  mutual  design  to  overreach,  but  were  conducted 
in  perfect  good  faith,  and  a  sincere  desire,  on  both 
sides,  of  establishing  a  cordial  reconciliation,  they  re- 
sulted, after  eight  days'  discussion,  in  a  treaty  of  peace, 
with  which  the  Portuguese  infanta  returned  into  her 
own  country,  in  order  to  obtain  the  sanction  of  her 
royal  brother.     The  articles  contained  in  it,  however, 


WAH   OF  THE  SUCCESSION. 


269 


were  too  unpalatable  to  receive  an  immediate  assent ; 
and  it  was  not  until  the  expiration  of  six  months,  dur- 
ing which  Isabella,  far  from  relaxing,  persevered  with 
increased  energy  in  her  original  plan  of  operations, 
that  the  treaty  was  formally  ratified  by  the  court  of 
Lisbon  (Sept.  24,  1479).^ 

It  was  stipulated  in  this  compact  that  Alfonso  should 
relinquish  the  title  and  armorial  bearings  which  he  had 
assumed  as  king  of  Castile ;  that  he  should  resign  his 
claims  to  the  hand  of  Joanna,  and  no  longer  maintain 
her  pretensions  to  the  Castilian  throne ;  that  that  lady 
should  make  the  election  within  six  months,  either  to 
quit  Portugal  forever,  or  to  remain  there  on  the  condi- 
tion of  wedding  Don  John,  the  infant  son  of  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella,  3*  so  soon  as  he  should  attain  a  marriage- 
able age,  or  to  retire  into  a  convent  and  take  the  veil ; 
that  a  general  amnesty  should  be  granted  to  all  such 
Castilians  as  had  supported  Joanna's  cause ;  and,  finally, 
that  the  concord  between  the  two  nations  should  be 
cemented  by  the  union  of  Alonso,  son  of  the  prince 
of  Portugal,  with  the  infanta  Isabella  of  Castile.^ 

Thus  terminated,  after  a  duration  of  four  years  and 
a  half,  the  War  of  the  Succession.  It  had  fallen  with 
peculiar  fury  on  the  border  provinces  of  Leon  and  Es- 

33  Ruy  de  Pina,  Chr6n.  d'el  Rey  Alfonso  V.,  cap.  206. — L.  Marineo, 
Cosas  memorables,  fol.  166,  167. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  cap.  85, 
89,  90. — Faria  y  Sousa,  Europa  Portuguesa,  torn.  ii.  pp.  420,  421. — 
Ferreras,  Hist.  d'Espagne,  torn.  vii.  p.  538. — Carbajal,  Anales,  MS., 
ano  79. — Bernaldez,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  28,  36,  37. 

34  Bom  the  preceding  year,  June  28th,  1478.  Carbajal,  An...es,  MS., 
anno  eodem. 

35  L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  168. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Catoli- 
cos, cap.  91. — Faria  y  Sousa,  Europa  Portuguesa,  torn.  ii.  pp.  420,  421. 
— Ruy  de  Pina,  Chr6n.  d'el  Rey  Alfonso  V.,  cap.  206. 


270     ACCESSION  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 

tremadura,  which,  from  their  local  position,  had  neces- 
sarily been  kept  in  constant  collision  with  the  enemy. 
Its  baneful  effects  were  long  visible  there,  not  only  in 
the  general  devastation  and  distress  of  the  country,  but 
in  the  moral  disorganization  which  the  licentious  and 
predatory  habits  of  the  soldiers  necessarily  introduced 
among  a  simple  peasantry.  In  a  personal  view,  how- 
ever, the  war  had  terminated  most  triumphantly  for 
Isabella,  whose  wise  and  vigorous  administration, 
seconded  by  her  husband's  vigilance,  had  dispelled  the 
storm  which  threatened  to  overwhelm  her  from  abroad, 
and  established  her  in  undisturbed  possession  of  the 
throne  of  her  ancestors. 

Joanna's  interests  alone  were  compromised,  or  rather 
sacrificed,  by  the  treaty.  She  readily  discerned  in  the 
provision  for  her  marriage  with  an  infant  still  in  the 
cradle,  only  a  flimsy  veil  intended  to  disguise  the  king 
of  Portugal's  desertion  of  her  cause.  Disgusted  with 
a  world  in  which  she  had  hitherto  experienced  nothing 
but  misfortune  herself,  and  been  the  innocent  cause  of 
so  much  to  others,  she  determined  to  renounce  it  for- 
ever, and  seek  a  shelter  in  the  peaceful  shades  of  the 
cloister.  She  accordingly  entered  the  convent  of  Santa 
Clara  at  Coimbra,  where,  in  the  following  year,  she 
pronounced  the  irrevocable  vows  which  divorce  the 
unhappy  subject  of  them  forever  from  her  species.  Two 
envoys  from  Castile,  Ferdinand  de  Talavera,  Isabella's 
confessor,  and  Dr.  Diaz  de  Madrigal,  one  of  her  coun- 
cil, assisted  at  this  affecting  ceremony  \  and  the  rever- 
end father,  in  a  copious  exhortation  addressed  to  the 
youthful  novice,  assured  her  **  that  she  had  chosen  the 
better  part  approved  in  the  Evangelists ;  that,  as  spouse 


IVAR   OF  THE  SUCCESSION. 


371 


of  the  church,  her  chastity  would  be  prolific  of  all 
spiritual  delights;  her  subjection,  liberty, — the  only 
true  liberty,  partaking  more  of  Heaven  than  of  earth. 
No  kinsman,"  continued  the  disinterested  preacher, 
"no  true  friend,  or  faithful  counsellor,  would  divert 
you  from  so  holy  a  purpose."'* 

Not  long  after  this  event,  King  Alfonso,  penetrated 
with  grief  at  the  loss  of  his  destined  bride, — the  "ex- 
cellent lady,"  as  the  Portuguese  continue  to  call  her, — 
resolved  to  imitate  her  example,  and  exchange  his  royal 
robes  for  the  humble  habit  of  a  Franciscan  friar.  He 
consequently  made  preparation  for  resigning  his  crown 
anew,  and  retiring  to  the  monastery  of  Varatojo,  on  a 
bleak  eminence  near  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  when  he  sud- 
denly fell  ill,  at  Cintra,  of  a  disorder  which  terminated 
his  existence,  on  the  28th  of  August,  1481.     Alfonso's 

3*  Ruy  de  Pina,  Chron.  d'el  Rey  Alfonso  V.,  cap.  20. — Faria  y  Sousa, 
Europa  Portuguesa,  torn.  ii.  p.  421. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  cap.  92, 
— L.  Marineo  speaks  of  the  Senora  muy  excelente,  as  an  inmate  of  the 
cloister  at  the  period  in  which  he  was  writing,  1522  (fol.  168).  Not- 
withstanding her  "  irrevocable  vows,"  however,  Joanna  several  times 
quitted  the  monastery,  and  maintained  a  royal  state  under  the  protec- 
tion of  the  Portuguese  monarchs,  who  occasionally  threatened  to  re- 
vive her  dormant  claims  to  the  prejudice  of  the  Castilian  sovereigns. 
She  may  be  said,  consequently,  to  have  formed  the  pivot  on  which 
turned,  during  her  whole  life,  the  diplomatic  relations  between  the 
courts  of  Castile  and  Portugal,  and  to  have  been  a  principal  cause  of 
those  frequent  intermarriages  between  the  royal  families  of  the  two 
countries  by  which  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  hoped  to  detach  the  Portu- 
guese crown  from  her  interests.  Joanna  affected  a  royal  style  and 
magnificence,  and  subscribed  herself  "  I  the  Queen,"  to  the  last.  She 
died  in  the  palace  at  Lisbon,  in  1530,  in  the  69th  year  of  her  age,  hav- 
ing survived  most  of  her  ancient  friends,  suitors,  and  competitors. — 
Joanna's  history  subsequent  to  her  taking  the  veil  has  been  collected, 
with  his  usual  precision,  by  Seiior  Clemencin,  Mem.  de  la  Acad,  de 
Hist.,  torn,  vi.,  Ilust.  19. 


273 


ACCESSION  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 


fiery  character,  in  which  all  the  elements  of  love,  chiv- 
alry, and  religion  were  blended  together,  resembled 
that  of  some  paladin  of  romance ;  as  the  chimerical 
enterprises  in  which  he  was  perpetually  engaged  seem 
rather  to  belong  to  the  age  of  knight-errantry  than  to 
the  fifteenth  century.  ^^ 

In  the  beginning  of  the  same  year  in  which  the  paci- 
fication with  Portugal  secured  to  the  sovereigns  the 
undisputed  possession  of  Castile,  another  crown  de- 
volved on  Ferdinand  by  the  death  of  his  father,  the 
king  of  Aragon,  who  expired  at  Barcelona,  on  the  20th 
of  January,  1479,  '"  ^^^  eighty-third  year  of  his  age.^ 
Such  was  his  admirable  constitution,  that  he  retained 
not  only  his  intellectual  but  his  bodily  vigor  unim- 
paired to  the  last.  His  long  life  was  consumed  in  civil 
faction  or  foreign  wars ;  and  his  restless  spirit  seemed 
to  take  delight  in  these  tumultuous  scenes,  an  best  fitted 
to  develop  its  various  energies.  He  combined,  how- 
ever, with  this  intrepid  and  even  ferocious  temper,  an 
address  in  the  management  of  affairs,  which  led  him  to 
rely,  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  purposes,  much 
more  on  negotiation  than  on  positive  force.  He  may 
be  said  to  have  been  one  of  the  first  monarchs  who 
brought  into  vogue  that  refined  science  of  the  cabinet, 
which  was  so  profoundly  studied  by  statesmen  at  the 
close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  on  which  his  own  son 
Ferdinand  furnished  the  most  practical  commentary. 

37  Faria  y  Sonsa,  Europa  Portuguesa,  torn.  ii.  p.  423. — Ruy  de  Pina, 
Chron.  d'el  Rey  Alfonso  V.,  cap.  212. 

38  Carbajal,  Anales,  MS.,  afio  79. — Bernaldez,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS., 
cap.  42. — Mariana,  Hist,  de  Espafia  (ed.  Valencia),  torn.  viii.  p.  204, 
note. — Abarca,  Reyes  de  Aragon,  torn.  ii.  fol.  295. 


IFA/!   OF  THE  SUCCESSION. 


273 


The  crown  of  Navarre,  which  he  had  so  shamelessly 
usurped,  devolved,  on  his  decease,  on  his  guilty  daugh- 
ter Leonora,  countess  of  Foix,  who,  as  we  have  before 
noticed,  survived  to  enjoy  it  only  three  short  weeks. 
Aragon,  with  its  extensive  dependencies,  descended  to 
Ferdinand.  Thus  the  two  crowns  of  Aragon  and  Cas- 
tile, after  a  separation  of  more  than  four  centuries,  be- 
came indissolubly  united,  and  the  foundations  were  laid 
of  the  magnificent  empire  which  was  destined  to  over- 
shadow every  other  European  monarchy. 


Vol.  I.— 18 


HI* 


CHAPTER    VI. 


INTERNAL   ADMINISTRATION   OF   CASTILE. 


1475-1482. 


Schemes  of  Reform. — Holy  Brotherhood. — Tumult  at  Segovia. — The 
Queen's  Presence  of  Mind. — Severe  Execution  of  Justice. — Royal 
Progress  through  Andalusia. — Reorganization  of  the  Tribunals. — 
Castilian  Jurisprudence. — Plans  for  reducing  the  Nobles. — Revoca- 
tion of  Grants. — Military  Orders  of  Castile. — Masterships  annexed 
to  the  Crown. — Ecclesiastical  Usurpations  resisted. — Restoration  of 
Trade. — Prosperity  of  the  Kingdom. 

I  HAVE  deferred  to  the  present  chapter  a  considera- 
tion of  the  important  changes  introduced  into  the  in- 
terior administration  of  Castile,  after  the  accession  of 
Isabella,  in  order  to  present  a  connected  and  compre- 
hensive view  of  them  to  the  reader  without  interrupting 
the  progress  of  the  military  narrative.  The  subject 
may  afford  an  agreeable  relief  to  the  dreary  details  of 
blood  and  battle  with  which  we  have  been  so  long  oc- 
cupied, and  which  were  rapidly  converting  the  garden 
of  Europe  into  a  wilderness.  Such  details,  indeed, 
seem  to  have  the  deepest  interest  for  contemporary 
writers ;  but  the  eye  of  posterity,  unclouded  by  per- 
sonal interest  or  passion,  turns  with  satisfaction  from 
them  to  those  cultivated  arts  which  can  make  the 
wilderness  to  blossom  as  the  rose. 

If  there  be  any  being  on  earth  that  may  be  permitted 
(274) 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


275 


to  remind  is  of  the  Deity  himself,  it  is  the  ruler  of  a 
mighty  empire,  who  employs  the  high  powers  intrusted 
to  him  exclusively  for  the  benefit  of  his  people ;  who, 
endowed  with  intellectual  gifts  corresponding  with  his 
station,  in  an  age  of  comparative  barbarism,  endeavors 
to  impart  to  his  land  the  light  of  civilization  which 
illumines  his  own  bosom,  and  to  create  from  the  ele- 
ments of  discord  the  beautiful  fabric  of  social  order. 
Such  was  Isabella ;  and  such  the  age  in  which  she  lived. 
And  fortunate  was  it  for  Spain  that  her  sceptre,  at  this 
crisis,  was  swayed  by  a  sovereign  possessed  of  sufficient 
wisdom  to  devise,  and  energy  to  execute,  the  most  sal- 
utary schemes  of  reform,  and  thus  to  infuse  a  new 
principle  of  vitality  into  a  government  fast  sinking  into 
premature  decrepitude. 

The  whole  plan  of  reform  introduced  into  the  gov- 
ernment by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  or  more  properly 
by  the  latter,  to  whom  the  internal  administration  of 
Castile  was  principally  referred,  was  not  fully  unfolded 
until  the  completion  of  her  reign.  But  the  most  im- 
portant modifications  were  adopted  previously  to  the 
war  of  Granada  in  1482.  These  may  be  embraced 
under  the  following  heads.  I.  The  efficient  adminis- 
tration of  justice.  II.  The  codification  of  the  laws. 
III.  The  depression  of  the  nobles.  IV.  The  vindica- 
tion of  ecclesiastical  rights  belonging  to  the  crown  from 
the  usurpation  of  the  papal  see.  V.  The  regulation  of 
trade.     VI.  The  pre-eminence  of  the  royal  authority. 

I.  The  administration  of  justice.  In  the  dismal  an- 
archy which  prevailed  in  Henry  the  Fourth's  reign,  the 
authority  of  the  monarch  and  of  the  royal  judges  had 
fallen  into  such  contempt  that  the  law  was  entirely 


276 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


%  > 


''M 


without  force.  The  cities  afforded  no  better  protection 
than  the  open  country.  Every  man's  hand  seemed  to 
be  lifted  against  his  neighbor.  Property  was  plundered ; 
persons  were  violated ;  the  most  holy  sanctuaries  pro- 
faned ;  and  the  numerous  fortresses  scattered  through- 
out the  country,  instead  of  sheltering  the  weak,  con- 
verted into  dens  of  robbers.^  Isabella  saw  no  better 
way  of  checking  this  unbounded  license  than  to  direct 
against  it  that  popular  engine,  the  Santa  Hermandad, 
or  Holy  Brotherhoc  d,  which  had  more  than  once  shaken 
the  Castilian  monarchs  on  their  throne. 

The  project  for  the  reorganization  of  this  institution 
was  introduced  into  the  cortes  held,  the  year  after  Isa- 
bella's accession,  at  Madrigal,  in  1476.  It  was  carried 
into  effect  by  the  junta  of  deputies  from  the  different 
cities  of  the  kingdom,  convened  at  Duefias  in  the  same 
year.  The  new  institution  differed  essentially  from  the 
ancient  hermandades,  since,  instead  of  being  partial  in 
its  extent,  it  was  designed  to  embrace  the  whole  king- 
dom; and,  instead  of  being  directed,  as  had  often 
been  the  case,  against  the  crown  itself,  it  was  set 
in  motion  at  the  suggestion  of  the  latter,  and  limited 
in  its  operation  to  the  maintenance  of  public  order. 
The  crimes  reserved  for  its  jurisdiction  were  all  violence 

*  Among  other  examples,  Pulgar  mentions  that  of  the  alcayde  of 
Castro-Nuno,  Pedro  de  Mendana,  who,  from  the  strongholds  in  his 
possession,  committed  such  grievous  devastations  throughout  the 
country,  that  the  cities  of  Burgos,  Avila,  Salamanca,  Segovia,  Valla- 
dolid,  Medina,  and  others  in  that  quarter,  were  fain  to  pay  him  a 
tribute  (black  mail)  to  protect  their  territories  from  his  rapacity.  His 
successfi'l  example  was  imitated  by  many  other  knightly  freebooters 
of  the  period.  (Reyes  Catohcos,  part.  2,  cap.  66.) — See  also  extracts 
cited  by  Saez  from  manuscript  notices  by  contemporaries  of  Henry 
IV.    Monedas  de  Enrique  IV.,  pp.  i,  2. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


277 


or  theft  committed  on  the  highways  or  in  the  open 
country,  and  in  cities  by  such  offenders  as  escaped  into 
tiie  country ;  house-breaking ;  rape ;  and  resistance  of 
justice.  The  specification  of  these  crimes  shows  their 
frequency;  and  the  reason  for  designating  the  open 
country,  as  the  particular  theatre  for  the  operations  of 
the  hermandad,  was  the  facility  which  criminals  pos- 
sessed there  for  eluding  the  pursuit  of  justice,  especially 
under  shelter  of  the  strongholds  or  fortresses  with 
which  it  was  plentifully  studded. 

An  annual  contribution  of  eighteen  thousand  mara- 
vedis  was  assessed  on  every  hundred  vecinos  or  house- 
holders, for  the  equipment  and  maintenance  of  a 
horseman,  whose  duty  it  was  to  arrest  offenders  and 
enforce  the  sentence  of  the  law.  On  the  flight  of  a 
criminal,  the  tocsins  of  the  villages  through  which  he 
was  supposed  to  have  passed  were  sounded,  and  the 
quadrilleros  or  officers  of  the  brotherhood,  stationed 
on  the  different  points,  took  up  the  pursuit  with  such 
promptness  as  left  little  chance  of  escape.  A  court  of 
two  alcaldes  was  established  in  every  town  containing 
thirty  families,  for  the  trial  of  til  crimes  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  hermandad  ;  and  an  appeal  lay  from 
them  in  specified  cases  to  a  supreme  council.  A  gen- 
eral junta,  composed  of  deputies  from  the  cities  through- 
out the  kingdom,  was  annually  convened  for  the  regu- 
lation of  affairs,  and  their  instructions  were  transmitted 
to  provincial  juntas,  who  superintended  the  execution 
of  them.  The  laws  enacted  at  different  times  in  these 
assemblies  were  compiled  into  a  code,  under  the  sanc- 
tion of  the  junta  general,  at  Tordelaguna,  in   1485.' 

"  The  Quaderno  of  the  laws  of  the  hermandad  has  now  become 
/ery  rare.    That  in  my  possession  was  printed  at  Burgos,  in  1527.     It 


I 

II:' 


i;  ,  i; 


ii 

ill; 


f 


278 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


The  penalties  for  theft,  which  are  literally  written  in 
blood,  are  specified  in  this  code  with  singular  precision. 
The  most  petty  larceny  was  punished  with  stripes,  the 
loss  of  a  member,  or  of  life  itself  ^  and  the  law  was 
administered  with  an  unsparing  rigor,  which  nothing 
but  the  extreme  necessity  of  the  case  could  justify. 
Capital  executions  were  conducted  by  shooting  the 
criminal  with  arrows.  The  enactment  relating  to  this 
provides  that  **  tlie  convict  shall  receive  the  sacrament 
like  a  Catholic  Christian,  and  after  that  be  executed  as 
speedily  as  possible,  in  order  that  his  soul  may  pass  the 
more  securely.  "^ 

Notwithstanding  the  popular  constitution  of  the  her- 
mandad,  and  the  obvious  advantages  attending  its  in- 
troduction at  this  juncture,  it  experienced  so  decided 
an  opposition  from  the  nobility,  who  discerned  the 
check  it  was  likely  to  impose  on  their  authority,  that 
it  required  all  the  queen's  address  and  perseverance  to 
effect  its  general  adoption.  The  constable  de  Haro, 
however,  a  nobleman  of  great  weight  from  his  personal 
character,  and  the  most  extensive  landed  proprietor  in 
the  north,  was  at  length  prevailed  on  to  introduce  it 

has  since  been  incorporated,  Wfith  consid«;rabIe  extension,  into  the 
Recopilacion  of  Philip  II. 

3  Quademo  de  las  Leyes  nuevas  de  la  Hermandad  (Burgos,  1527), 
leyes  i,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  8,  16,  20,  36,  37. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  part. 
2,  cap.  51. — L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  160,  ed.  1539. — Mem. 
de  la  Acad,  de  Hist.,  torn.  vi.  Ilust.  4. — Carbajal,  Anales,  MS.,  aiio 
76. — Lebrija,  Rerum  Gestarum  Decades,  fol.  36. — By  one  of  the  laws, 
the  inhabitants  of  such  seignorial  towns  as  refused  to  pay  the  contri- 
butions of  the  hermandad  were  excluded  from  its  benefits,  as  well  as 
from  traffic  with,  and  even  the  power  of  recovering  their  debts  from, 
other  natives  of  the  kingdom.     Ley  33. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


279 


among  his  vassals.  His  example  was  gradually  followed 
by  others  of  the  same  rank ;  and  when  the  city  of 
Seville  and  the  great  lords  of  Andalusia  had  consented 
to  receive  it,  it  speedily  became  established  throughout 
the  kingdom.  Thus  a  standing  body  of  troops,  two 
thousand  in  number,  thoroughly  equipped  and  mounted, 
was  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  crown,  to  enforce  the 
law  and  suppress  domestic  insurrection.  The  supreme 
junta,  which  regulated  the  counsels  of  the  hermandad, 
constituted  moreover  a  sort  of  inferior  cortes,  relieving 
the  exigencies  of  government,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter, 
on  more  than  one  occasion,  by  important  supplies  of 
men  and  money.  By  the  activity  of  this  new  military 
police,  the  country  was,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years, 
cleared  of  its  swarms  of  banditti,  as  well  as  of  the 
robber  chieftains,  whose  strength  had  enabled  them  to 
defy  the  law.  The  ministers  of  justice  found  a  sure 
protection  in  the  independent  discharge  of  their 
duties;  and  the  blessings  of  personal  security  and 
social  order,  so  long  estranged  from  the  nation,  were 
again  restored  to  it. 

The  important  benefits  resulting  from  the  institution 
of  the  hermandad  secured  its  confirmation  by  successive 
cortes,  for  the  period  of  twenty-two  years,  in  spite  of 
the  repeated  opposition  of  the  aristocracy.  At  length, 
in  1498,  the  objects  for  which  it  was  established  having 
been  completely  obtained,  it  was  deemed  advisable  to 
relieve  the  nation  from  the  heavy  charges  which  its 
maintenance  imposed.  The  great  salaried  officers  were 
dismissed;  a  few  subordinate  functionaries  were  re- 
tained for  the  administration  of  justice,  over  whom  the 
regular  courts  of  criminal  law  possessed  appellate  juris- 


28o 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


diction;  and  the  magnificent  apparatus  of  the  Santa 
Hermandady  stripped  of  all  but  the  terrors  of  its  name, 
dwindled  into  an  ordinary  police,  such  as  it  has  existed, 
with  various  modifications  of  form,  down  to  the  present 
century.* 

Isabella  was  so  intent  on  the  prosecution  of  her 
schemes  of  reform,  that,  even  in  the  minuter  details, 
she  frequently  superintended  the  execution  of  them 
herself.  For  this  she  was  admirably  fitted  by  her  per- 
sonal address,  and  presence  of  mind  in  danger,  and  by 
the  influence  which  a  conviction  of  her  integrity  gave 
her  over  the  minds  of  the  people.  A  remarkable  ex- 
emplification of  this  occurred,  the  year  but  one  after 
her  coronation,  at  Segovia.  The  inhabitants,  secretly 
instigated  by  the  bishop  of  that  place  and  some  of  the 
principal  citizens,  rose  against  Cabrera,  marquis  of 
Moya,  to  whom  the  government  of  the  city  had  been 
intrusted,  and  who  had  made  himself  generally  unpop- 
ular by  his  strict  discipline.  They  even  proceeded  so 
far  as  to  obtain  possession  of  the  outworks  of  the  cita- 
del, and  to  compel  the  deputy  of  the  alcayde,  who  was 
himself  absent,  to  take  shelter,  together  with  the  prin- 
cess Isabella,  then  the  only  daughter  of  the  sovereigns, 
in  the  interior  defences,  where  they  were  rigorously 
blockaded. 

The  queen,  on  receiving  tidings  of  the  event  at  Tor- 
desillas,  mounted   her  horse  and  proceeded  with  all 


♦  Recopilacion  de  las  Leyes  (Madrid,  1640),  lib.  8,  tit.  13,  ley  44. — 
Zuiiiga,  Annales  de  Sevilla,  p.  379. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  part.  2, 
cap.  51. — Mem.  de  la  Acad,  de  Hist.,  torn.  vi.  Ilust.  6. — Lebrija, 
Rerum  Gestarum  Decad.,  fol.  37,  38. — Las  Pragmdticas  del  Reyno 
(Sevilla,  1520),  fol.  85. — L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  160. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


281 


possible  despatch  towards  Segovia,  attended  by  Cardi- 
nal Mendoza,  the  count  of  Benavente,  and  a  few  others 
of  her  court.  At  some  distance  from  the  city,  she  was 
met  by  a  deputation  of  the  inhabitants,  requesting  her 
to  leave  behind  the  count  of  Benavente  and  the  mar- 
chioness of  Moya  (the  former  of  whom  as  the  intimate 
friend,  and  the  latter  as  the  wife,  of  the  alcayde,  were 
peculiarly  obnoxious  to  the  citizens),  or  they  could  not 
answer  for  the  consequences.  Isabella  haughtily  re- 
plied that  "  she  was  queen  of  Castile ;  that  the  city  was 
hers,  moreover,  by  right  of  inheritance ;  and  that  she 
was  not  used  to  receive  conditions  from  rebellious  sub- 
jects." Then,  pressing  forward  with  her  little  retinue 
through  one  of  the  gates,  which  remained  in  the 
hands  of  her  friends,  she  effected  her  entrance  into  the 
citadel. 

The  populace,  in  the  mean  while,  assembling  in 
greater  numbers  than  before,  continued  to  show  the 
most  hostile  dispositions,  calling  out,  **  Death  to  the 
alcayde!  Attack  the  castle !"  Isabella's  attendants, 
terrified  at  the  tumult,  and  at  the  preparations  which 
the  people  were  making  to  put  their  menaces  into  ex- 
ecution, besought  their  mistress  to  cause  the  gates  to  be 
secured  more  strongly,  as  the  only  mode  of  defence 
against  Ihe  infuriated  mob.  But,  instead  of  listening 
to  their  counsel,  she  bade  them  remain  quietly  in  the 
apartment,  and  descended  herself  into  the  court-yard, 
where  she  ordered  the  portals  to  be  thrown  open  for 
the  admission  of  the  people.  She  stationed  herself  at 
the  further  extremity  of  the  area,  and,  as  the  populace 
poured  in,  calmly  demanded  the  cause  of  the  insurrec- 
tion.    "Tell  me,"  said  she,  "what  are   your  griev- 


282 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


ances,  and  I  will  do  all  in  my  power  to  redress  them ; 
for  I  am  sure  that  what  is  for  your  interest  must  be  also 
for  mine,  and  for  that  of  the  whole  city."  The  insur- 
gents, abashed  by  the  unexpected  presence  of  their 
sovereign,  as  well  as  by  her  cool  and  dignified  de- 
meanor, replied  that  all  they  desired  was  the  removal 
of  Cabrera  from  the  government  of  the  city.  **  He  is 
deposed  already,"  answered  the  queen,  "and  you  have 
my  authority  to  turn  out  such  of  his  officers  as  are  still 
in  the  castle,  which  I  shall  intrust  to  one  of  my  own 
servants,  on  whom  I  can  rely."  The  people,  pacified 
by  these  assurances,  shouted,  "Long  live  the  queen!" 
and  eagerly  hastened  to  obey  her  mandates. 

After  thus  turning  aside  the  edge  of  popular  fury,  Isa- 
bella proceeded  with  her  retinue  to  the  royal  residence 
in  the  city,  attended  by  the  fickle  multitude,  whom  she 
again  addressed  on  arriving  there,  admonishing  them  to 
return  to  their  vocations,  as  this  was  no  time  for  calm 
inquiry,  and  promising  that,  if  they  would  send  three 
or  four  of  their  number  to  her  on  the  morrow  to  report 
the  extent  of  their  grievances,  she  would  examine  into 
the  affair,  and  render  justice  to  all  parties.  The  mob 
accordingly  dispersed,  and  the  queen,  after  a  candid 
examination,  having  ascertained  the  groundlessness  or 
gross  exaggeration  of  the  charges  against  Cabrera,  and 
traced  the  source  of  the  conspiracy  to  the  jealousy  of 
the  bishop  of  Segovia  and  his  associates,  reinstated  the 
deposed  alcayde  in  the  full  possession  of  his  dignities, 
which  his  enemies,  either  convinced  of  the  altered  dis 
positions  of  the  people,  or  believing  that  the  favorable 
moment  for  resistance  had  escaped,  made  no  further 
attempts  to  disturb.  Thus  by  a  happy  presence  of  mind. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


283 


an  affair  which  threatened /at  its  outset,  disastrous  con- 
sequences, was  settled  without  bloodshed,  or  com- 
promise of  th**  .oyal  dignity.' 

In  the  summer  of  the  following  year,  1477,  Isabella 
resolved  to  pay  a  visit  to  Estremadura  and  Andalusia, 
for  the  purpose  of  composing  the  dissensions,  and  ii- 
troducing  a  more  efficient  police,  in  these  unhappy 
provinces ;  which,  from  their  proximity  to  the  stormy 
frontier  of  Portugal,  as  well  as  from  the  feuds  between 
the  great  houses  of  Guzman  and  Ponce  de  Leon,  were 
plunged  in  the  most  frightful  anarchy.  Cardinal  Men- 
doza  and  her  other  ministers  remonstrated  against  this 
imprudent  exposure  of  her  person,  where  it  was  so  little 
likely  to  be  respected.  But  she  replied,  "it  was  true 
there  were  dangers  and  inconveniences  to  be  encoun- 
tered ;  but  her  fate  was  in  God's  hands,  and  she  felt  a 
confidence  that  he  would  guide  to  a  prosperous  issue 
such  designs  as  were  righteous  in  themselves  and  reso- 
lutely conducted." 

Isabella  experienced  the  most  loyal  and  magnificent 
reception  from  the  inhabitants  of  Seville,  where  she 
established  her  headquarters.  The  first  days  of  her 
residence  there  were  consumed  in  fetes,  tourneys,  tilts 
of  reeds,  and  other  exercises  of  the  Castilian  chivalry. 


S  Carbajal,  Anales,  MS.,  aiio  76. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  part.  2, 
cap.  59. — Ferreras,  Hist.  d'Espagne,  torn.  viii.  p.  477. — Lebrija,  Rerum 
Gestarum  Decad.,  fol.  41,  42. — Gonzalo  de  Oviedo  lavishes  many 
encomiums  on  Cabrera,  for  "his  generous  qualities,  his  singular  pru- 
dence in  government,  and  his  solicitude  for  his  vassals,  whom  he 
inspired  with  the  deepest  attachment."  (Quincuagenas,  MS.,  bat.  i, 
quinc.  i,  dial.  23.)  The  best  panegyric  on  his  character  is  the  un- 
shaken confidence  which  his  royal  mistress  reposed  in  him  to  the  day 
of  her  death. 


]M 


284 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


After  this  she  devoted  her  whole  time  to  the  great  pur- 
pose of  her  visit,  the  reformation  of  abuses.  She  held 
her  court  in  the  saloon  of  the  alcazar,  or  royal  castle, 
where  she  revived  the  ancient  practice  of  the  Castilian 
sovereigns,  of  presiding  in  person  over  the  administra- 
tion of  justice.  Every  Friday,  she  took  her  seat  in  her 
chair  of  state,  on  an  elevated  platform  covered  with 
cloth  of  gold,  and  surrounded  by  her  council,  together 
with  the  sub:rdinate  functionaries,  and  the  insignia  of 
a  court  of  justice.  The  members  of  her  privy  council, 
and  of  the  high  court  of  criminal  law,  sat  in  their 
official  capacity  every  day  in  the  week,  and  the  queen 
herself  received  such  suits  as  were  referred  to  her  ad- 
judication, saving  the  parties  the  usual  expense  and 
procrastination  of  justice. 

By  the  extraordinary  despatch  of  the  queen  and  her 
ministers,  during  the  two  months  that  she  resided  in 
the  city,  a  vast  number  of  civil  and  criminal  causes 
were  disposed  of,  a  large  amount  of  plundered  property 
was  restored  to  its  lawful  owners,  and  so  many  offend- 
ers were  brought  to  condign  punishment,  that  no  less 
than  four  thousand  suspected  persons,  it  is  computed, 
terrified  by  the  prospect  of  speedy  retribution  for  their 
crimes,  escaped  into  the  neighboring  kingdoms  of  Por- 
tugal and  Granada.  The  worthy  burghers  of  Seville, 
alarmed  at  this  rapid  depopulation  of  the  city,  sent  a 
deputation  to  the  queen,  to  deprecate  her  anger,  and  to 
represent  that  faction  had  been  so  busy  of  late  years  in 
their  unhappy  town,  that  there  was  scarcely  a  family  to 
be  found  in  it  some  of  whose  members  were  not  more 
or  less  involved  in  the  guilt.  Isabella,  who  was  natu- 
rally of  a  benign  disposition,  considering  that  enough 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


285 


had  probably  been  done  to  strike  a  salutary  terror  into 
the  remaining  delinquents,  was  willing  to  temper  justice 
with  mercy,  and  accordingly  granted  an  amnesty  for  all 
past  offences,  save  heresy,  on  the  condition,  however, 
of  a  general  restitution  of  such  property  as  had  been 
unlawfully  seized  and  retained  during  the  period  of 
anarchy.' 

But  Isabella  became  convinced  that  all  arrangements 
for  establishing  permanent  tranquillity  in  Seville  would 
be  ineffectual  so  long  as  the  feud  continued  between 
the  great  families  of  Guzman  and  Ponce  de  Leon.  The 
duke  of  Medina  Sidonia  and  the  marquis  of  Cadiz,  the 
heads  of  these  houses,  had  possessed  themselves  of  the 
royal  towns  and  fortresses,  as  well  as  of  those  which, 
belonging  to  the  city,  were  scattered  over  its  circum- 
jacent territory,  where,  as  has  been  previously  stated, 
they  carried  on  war  against  each  other,  like  independent 
potentates.  The  former  of  these  grandees  had  been  the 
loyal  supporter  of  Isabella  in  the  War  of  the  Succession. 
The  marquis  of  Cadiz,  on  the  other  hand,  connected 
by  marriage  with  the  house  of  Pacheco,  had  cautiously 
withheld  his  allegiance,  although  he  had  not  testified 
his  hostility  by  any  overt  act.  While  the  queen  was 
hesitating  as  to  the  course  she  should  pursue  in  refer- 
ence to  the  marquis,  who  still  kept  himself  aloof  in  his 
fortified  castle  of  Xerez,  he  suddenly  presented  himself 
by  night  at  her  residence  in  Seville,  accompanied  only 
by  two  or  three  attendants.  He  took  this  step,  doubtless, 

*  Zuniga,  Annales  de  Sevilla,  p.  381. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  part. 
2,  cap.  65,  70,  71. — Bernaldez,  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS.,  cap.  29. — Car- 
bajal,  Anales,  ano  77. — L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  162 ;  who 
says  no  less  than  8000  guilty  fled  from  Seville  and  Cordova. 


386 


ADMINISTRA  TION  OF  CASTILE. 


from  the  conviction  that  the  Portuguese  faction  had 
nothing  further  to  hope  in  a  kingdom  where  Isabella 
reigned  not  only  by  the  fortune  of  war,  but  by  the 
affections  of  the  people;  and  he  now  eagerly  proffered 
his  allegiance  to  her,  excusing  his  previous  conduct  as 
he  best  could.  The  queen  was  too  well  satisfied  with 
the  submission,  however  tardy,  of  this  formidable  vassal, 
to  call  him  to  severe  account  for  past  delinquencies. 
She  exacted  from  him,  however,  the  full  restitution  of 
such  domains  and  fortresses  as  he  had  filched  from  the 
crown  and  from  the  city  of  Seville,  on  condition  of 
similar  concessions  by  his  rival,  the  duke  of  Medina 
Sidonia.  She  next  attempted  to  establish  a  reconcilia- 
tion between  these  belligerent  grandees;  but,  aware 
that,  however  pacific  might  be  their  demonstrations 
for  the  present,  there  could  be  little  hope  of  per- 
manently allaying  the  inherited  feuds  of  a  century 
whilst  the  neighborhood  of  the  parties  to  each  other 
must  necessarily  multiply  fresh  causes  of  disgust,  she 
caused  them  to  withdraw  from  Seville  to  their  estates 
in  the  country,  and  by  this  expedient  succeeded  in 
extinguishing  the  flame  of  discord.' 

In  the  following  year,  1478,  Isabella  accompanied 
her  husband  in  a  tour  through  Andalusia,  for  the  im- 
mediate purpose  of  reconnoitring  the  coast.  In  the 
course  of  this  progress,  they  were  splendidly  entertained 
by  the  duke  and  marquis  at  their  patrimonial  estates. 
They  afterwards  proceeded  to  Cordova,  where  they 


7  Bemaldez,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  29. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv. 
fol.  283. — Zuiiiga,  Annates  de  Sevilla,  p.  382. — Lebrija,  Rerum  Ges- 
tarum  Decades,  lib.  7. — L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  ubi  supra. 
Garibay,  Compendio,  lib.  18,  cap.  11. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


aSf 


adopted  a  similar  policy  to  that  pursued  at  Seville, 
compelling  the  count  de  Cabra,  connected  with  the 
blood  royal,  and  Alonso  de  Aguilar,  lord  of  Montilla, 
whose  factions  had  long  desolated  this  fair  city,  to 
withdraw  into  the  country,  and  restore  the  immense 
possessions  which  they  had  usurped  both  from  the 
municipality  and  the  crown.* 

One  example  among  others  may  be  mentioned,  of  the 
rectitude  and  severe  impartiality  with  which  Isabella 
administered  justice,  that  occurred  in  the  case  of  a 
wealthy  Galician  knight,  named  Alvaro  Yaflez  de 
Lugo.  This  person,  being  convicted  of  a  capital 
offence,  attended  with  the  most  aggravating  circum- 
stances, sought  to  obtain  a  commutation  of  his  punish- 
ment 1 7  the  payment  of  forty  thousand  doblas  of  gold 
to  the  queen,  a  sum  exceeding  at  that  time  the  annual 
rents  of  the  crown.  Some  of  Isabella's  counsellors 
would  have  persuaded  her  to  accept  the  donative  and 
appropriate  it  to  the  pious  purposes  of  the  Moorish 
war.  But,  far  from  being  blinded  by  their  sophistry, 
she  suflFered  the  law  to  take  its  course,  and,  in  order  to 
place  her  conduct  above  every  suspicion  of  a  mercenary 
motive,  allowed  his  estates,  which  might  legally  have 
been  confiscated  to  the  crown,  to  descend  to  his  natural 
heirs.  Nothing  contributed  more  to  re-establish  the 
supremacy  of  law  in  this  reign  than  the  certainty  of  its 
execution,  without  respect  to  wealth  or  rank;  for  the 
insubordination  prevalent  throughout  Castile  was  chiefly 
imputable  to  persons  of  this  description,  who,  if  they 


*  Bernaldez,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap,  30. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61i- 
cos,  part.  2,  cap.  78. 


288 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


failed  to  defeat  justice  by  force,  were  sure  of  doing  so 
by  the  corruption  of  its  ministers.' 

Ferdinand  and  Isabella  employed  the  same  vigorous 
measures  in  the  other  parts  of  their  dominions,  which 
had  proved  so  successful  in  Andalusia,  for  the  extirpa- 
tion of  the  hordes  of  banditti,  and  of  the  robber-knights, 
who  differed  in  no  respect  from  the  former  but  in  their 
superior  power.  In  Galicia  alone,  fifty  fortresses,  the 
strongholds  of  tyranny,  were  razed  to  the  ground,  and 
fifteen  hundred  malefactors,  it  was  computed,  were 
compelled  to  fly  the  kingdom.  **  The  wretched  in- 
habitants of  the  mountains,"  says  a  writer  of  that  age, 
"who  had  long  since  despaired  of  justice,  blessed  God 
for  their  deliverance,  as  it  were,  from  a  deplorable  cap- 
tivity.'"" 

While  the  sovereigns  were  thus  personally  occupied 
with  the  suppression  of  domestic  discord,  and  the 
establishment  of  an  efficient  police,  they  were  not  in- 
attentive to  the  higher  tribunals,  to  whose  keeping, 
chiefly,  were  intrusted  the  personal  rights  and  property 
of  the  subject.  They  reorganized  the  royal  or  privy 
council,  whose  powers,  although,  as  has  been  noticed 
in  the  Introduction,  principally  of  an  administrative 
nature,  had  been  gradually  encroaching  on  those  of  the 
superior  courts  of  law.  During  the  last  century,  this 
body  had  consisted  of  prelates,  knights,  and  lawyers, 

9  "Era  muy  indinada,"  says  Pulgar,  "d  facer  justicia,  tanto  que  le 
era  imputado  seguir  mas  la  via  de  rigor  que  de  la  piedad ;  y  esto  facia 
por  remediar  d  la  gran  corrupcion  de  crimines  que  fall6  en  el  Reyno 
quando  subcedio  en  el."     Reyes  Catolicos,  p.  37. 

10  Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  part.  2,  cap.  97,  98. — L.  Marineo,  Cosas 
memorables,  fol.  162. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


289 


whose  numbers  and  relative  proportions  had  varied  in 
different  times.  The  right  of  tlie  great  ecclesiastics  and 
nobles  to  a  seat  in  it  was,  indeed,  recognized,  but  the 
transaction  of  business  was  reserved  for  the  counsellors 
specially  appointed."  Much  the  larger  proportion  of 
these,  by  the  new  arrangement,  was  made  up  of  jurists, 
whose  professional  education  and  experience  eminently 
qualified  them  for  the  station.  The  specific  duties  and 
interior  management  of  the  council  were  prescribed 
with  sufficient  accuracy.  Its  authority  as  a  court  of 
justice  was  carefully  limited;  but,  as  it  was  charged 
with  the  principal  executive  duties  of  government,  it 
was  consulted  in  all  important  transactions  by  the 
sovereigns,  who  paid  great  deference  to  its  opinions, 
and  very  frequently  assisted  at  its  deliberations." 


"  Ordenan9as  4leales  de  Castilla  (Burgos,  1528),  lib.  a,  tit.  3,  ley 
31. — This  constitutional — though,  as  it  would  seem,  impotent — right  of 
the  nobility  is  noticed  by  Sempere.  (Hist,  des  Cortis,  pp.  123,  129.) 
It  should  not  have  escaped  Marina. 

"  Lib.  a,  tit.  3,  of  the  Ordenancpas  Reales  is  devoted  to  the  royal 
council.  The  number  of  the  members  was  limited  to  one  prelate,  as 
president,  three  knights,  and  eight  or  nine  prists.  (Pr6Iogo.)  The 
sessions  were  to  be  held  every  day,  in  the  palace.  (Leyes  1,2.)  They 
were  instructed  to  refer  to  the  other  tribunals  all  matters  not  strictly 
coming  within  their  own  jurisdiction.  (Ley  4.)  Their  acts,  in  all  cases 
except  those  specially  reserved,  were  to  have  the  force  of  law  without 
the  royal  signature.  (Leyes  23,  24.)  See  also  Los  Doctores  Asso  y 
Manuel,  Instituciones  del  Derecho  civil  de  Castilla  (Madrid,  1792), 
Introd.  p.  Ill;  and  Santiago  Agustin  Riol,  Informe,  apud  Semanario 
erudito  (Madrid,  1788),  tom.  iii.  p.  114,  who  is  mistaken  in  stating  the 
number  of  jurists  in  the  council,  at  this  time,  at  sixteen, — a  change 
which  did  not  take  place  till  Philip  XL's  reign.  (Recop.  de  las  Leyes, 
lib.  2,  tit.  4,  ley  i.) 

Marina  denies  that  the  council  could  constitutionally  exercise  any 
judicial  authority,  at  least  in  suits  between  private  parties,  and  quotes 
Vol.  I. — 19  fi 


290 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


No  change  was  made  in  the  high  criminal  court  of 
alcaldes  de  corte,  except  in  its  forms  of  proceeding. 
But  the  royal  audience,  or  chancery,  the  supreme  and 
final  court  of  appeal  in  civil  causes,  was  entirely  remod- 
elled. The  place  of  its  sittings,  before  indeterminate, 
and  consequently  occasioning  much  trouble  and  cost  to 
the  litigants,  was  fixed  at  Valladolid.  Laws  were  passed 
to  protect  the  tribunal  from  the  interference  of  the 
crown,  and  the  queen  was  careful  to  fill  the  bench  with 
magistrates  whose  wisdom  and  integrity  would  afford 
the  best  guarantee  for  a  faithful  interpretation  of  the 
law.»3 

In  the  cortes  of  Madrigal  (1476),  and  still  more  in 
the  celebrated  one  of  Toledo  (1480),  many  excellent 
provisions  were  made  for  the  equitable  administration 
of  justice,  as  well  as  for  regulating  the  tribunals.  The 
judges  were  to  ascertain  every  week,  either  by  personal 


a  passage  from  Pulgar,  showing  that  its  usurpations  in  this  way  were 
restrained  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  (Teoria,  part.  2,  cap.  29.) 
Powers  of  this  nature,  however,  to  a  considerable  extent,  appear  to 
have  been  conceded  to  it  by  more  than  one  statute  under  this  reign. 
See  Recop.  de  las  Leyes  (lib.  2,  tit.  4,  leyes  20,  22,  and  tit.  5,  ley  12), 
and  the  unqualified  testimony  of  Riol,  Informe,  apud  Semanario  eru- 
dito,  ubi  supra. 

»3  Ordenan9as  Reales,  lib.  2,  tit.  4. — Marina,  Teoria  de  las  Cortes, 
part.  2,  cap.  25. 

By  one  of  the  statutes  (ley  4),  the  commission  of  the  judges,  which  be- 
fore extended  to  life,  or  a  long  period,  was  abridged  to  one  year.  This 
important  innovation  was  made  at  the  earnest  and  repeated  remon- 
strance of  cortes,  who  tiaced  the  remissness  and  corruption,  too  fre- 
quent of  late  in  the  court,  to  the  circumstance  that  its  decisions  were 
not  liable  to  be  reviewed  during  life.  (Teoria,  ubi  supra.)  The  legis- 
lature probably  mistook  the  true  cause  of  the  evil.  Few  will  doubt,  at 
any  rate,  that  the  remedy  proposed  must  have  been  fraught  with  far 
greater. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


291 


inspection  or  report,  the  condition  of  the  prisons,  the 
number  of  the  prisoners,  and  the  nature  of  the  offences 
for  which  they  were  confined.  They  were  required  to 
bring  them  to  a  speedy  trial,  and  afford  every  facility 
for  their  defence.  An  attorney  was  provided  at  the 
public  expense,  under  the  title  of  *'  advocate  for  the 
poor,"  whose  duty  it  was  to  defend  the  suits  of  such  as 
were  unable  to  maintain  them  at  their  own  cost.  Severe 
penalties  were  enacted  against  venality  in  the  judges,  a 
gross  evil  under  the  preceding  reigns,  as  well  as  against 
such  counsel  as  took  exorbitant  fees,  or  even  maintained 
actions  that  were  manifestly  unjust.  Finally,  commis- 
sioners were  appointed  to  inspect  and  make  report  of 
the  proceedings  of  municipal  and  other  inferior  courts 
throughout  the  kingdom.^* 

The  sovereigns  testified  their  respect  for  the  law  by 
reviving  the  ancient  but  obsolete  practice  of  presiding 
personally  in  the  tribunals,  at  least  once  a  week.  "I 
well  remember,"  says  one  of  their  court,  **  to  have  seen 
the  queen,  together  with  the  Catholic  king,  her  hus- 
band, sitting  in  judgment  in  the  alcazar  of  Madrid, 
every  Friday,  dispensing  justice  to  all  such,  great  and 
small,  as  came  to  demand  it.  This  was  indeed  the 
golden  age  of  justice,"  continues  the  enthusiastic 
writer,  "and  since  our  sainted  mistress  has  been  taken 
from  us,  it  has  been  more  difficult,  and  far  more  costly, 
to  transact  business  with  a  stripling  of  a  secretary,  than 
it  was  with  the  queen  and  all  her  ministers. 


'IS 


u  Ordenan9as  Reales,  lib.  2,  tit.  i,  3,  4,  15,  16,  17,  19;  lib.  3,  tit.  2. 
— Recop.  de  las  Leyes,  lib.  2,  tit.  4,  5,  i6. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat6licos, 
part,  a,  cap.  94. 

«s  Oviedo,  Quincuagenas,  MS.    By  one  of  the  statutes  of  the  cortes 


292 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


By  the  modifications  then  introduced,  the  basis  was 
laid  of  the  judiciary  system,  such  as  it  has  been  per- 
petuated to  the  present  age.  The  law  acquired  an 
authority  which,  in  the  language  of  a  Spanish  writer, 
"caused  a  decree,  signed  by  two  or  three  judges,  to 
be  more  respected  since  that  time  than  an  army  be- 
fore."^* But  perhaps  the  results  of  this  improved 
administration  cannot  be  better  conveyed  than  in  the 
words  of  an  eye-witness.  "Whereas,"  says  Pulgar, 
**  the  kingdom  was  previously  filled  with  banditti  and 
malefactors  of  every  description,  who  committed  the 
most  diabolical  excesses,  in  open  contempt  of  law, 
there  was  now  such  terror  impressed  on  the  hearts  of 
all,  that  no  one  dared  to  lift  his  arm  against  another, 
or  even  to  assail  him  with  contumelious  or  discourteous 
language.  The  knight  and  the  squire,  who  had  before 
oppressed  the  laborer,  were  intimidated  by  the  fear  of 
that  justice  which  was  sure  to  be  executed  on  them ; 
the  roads  were  swept  of  the  banditti ;  the  fortresses,  the 
strongholds  of  violence,  were  thrown  open,  and  the 
whole  nation,  restored  to  tranquillity  and  order,  sought 
no  other  redress  than  that  afforded  by  the  operation  of 
the  law.  "^7 

II.    Codification   of   the   laws.     Whatever  reforms 


of  Toledo,  in  1480,  the  king  was  required  to  take  his  seat  in  the  coun- 
cil every  Friday.  (Ordenan9as  Reales,  lib.  2,  tit.  3,  ley  32.)  It  was 
not  so  new  for  the  Castilians  to  have  good  laws,  as  for  their  monarchs 
to  observe  them. 

'6  Sempere,  Hist,  des  Cortes,  p.  263. 

V  Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  ^.  167.— See  the  strong  language,  also, 
of  Peter  Martyr,  another  contemporary  witness  of  the  beneficial 
changes  in  the  government.  Opus  Epistolarum  (Amstelodami,  1670), 
ep.  31. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


293 


might  have  been  introduced  into  the  Castilian  judica- 
tures, they  would  have  been  of  little  avail  without  a 
corresponding  improvement  in  the  system  of  jurispru- 
dence by  which  their  decisions  were  to  be  regulated. 
This  was  made  up  of  the  Visigothic  code,  as  the  basis, 
the  fueros  of  the  Castilian  princes,  as  far  back  as  the 
eleventh  century,  and  the  "Siete  Partidas,"  the  famous 
compilation  of  Alfonso  the  Tenth,  digested  chiefly  from 
maxims  of  the  civil  law.'^  The  deficiencies  of  these 
ancient  codes  had  been  gradually  supplied  by  such  an 
accumulation  of  statutes  and  ordinances  as  rendered 
the  legislation  of  Castile  in  the  highest  degree  complex, 
2X\\  often  contradictory.  The  embarrassment  resulting 
1,  t  lis  occasioned,  as  may  be  imagined,  much  tar- 
G-iw^a,  as  well  as  uncertainty,  in  the  decisions  of  the 
courts,  who,  despairing  of  reconciling  the  discrepan- 
cies in  their  own  law,  governed  themselves  almost 
exclusively  by  the  Roman,  so  much  less  accommo- 
dated, as  it  was,  than  their  own,  to  the  genius  of  the 
national  institutions,  as  well  as  to  the  principles  of 
freedom.'' 


»8  Prieto  y  Sotelo,  Historia  del  Derecho  real  de  Espafia  (Madrid, 
1738),  lib.  3,  cap.  16-21. — Marina  has  made  an  elaborate  commentary 
on  Alfonso's  celebrated  code,  in  his  Fnsayo  hist6rico-critico  sobre  la 
antigua  Legislacion  de  Castilla  (Madrid,  1808).  pp.  269  et  seq.  The 
English  reader  will  find  a  more  succinct  analysis  in  Dr.  Dunham's  His- 
tory of  Spain  and  Portugal  (London,  1832),  in  Lardner's  Cyclopoedia, 
vol.  iv.  pp.  121-150.  The  latter  has  given  a  more  exact  and,  at  the 
same  time,  extended  view  of  the  early  Castilian  legislation,  probably, 
than  is  to  be  found,  in  the  same  compass,  in  any  of  the  Peninsular 
writers. 

'9  Marina  (in  his  Ensayo  historico-critico,  p.  388)  quotes  a  popular 
satire  of  the  fifteenth  century,  directed,  with  considerable  humor, 


394 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


The  nation  had  long  felt  the  pressure  of  these  evils, 
and  made  attempts  to  redress  them  in  repeated  cortes. 
But  every  effort  proved  unavailing  during  the  stormy  or 
imbecile  reigns  of  the  princes  of  Trastamara.  At  length, 
the  subject  having  been  resumed  in  the  cortes  of  To- 
ledo, in  1480,  Dr.  Alfonso  Diaz  de  Montalvo,  whose 
professional  science  had  been  matured  under  the  reigns 
of  three  successive  sovereigns,  was  charged  with  the 
commission  of  revising  the  laws  of  Castile,  and  of  com- 
piling a  code  which  should  be  of  general  application 
throughout  the  kingdom. 

This  laborious  undertaking  was  accomplished  in  little 
more  than  four  years ;  and  his  work,  which  subsequently 
bore  the  title  of  Ordenan^as  Reales^  was  published,  or, 
as  the  privilege  expresses  it,  "written  with  types,"  ex- 
crito  de  letra  de  moldey  at  Huete,  in  the  beginning  of 
1485.  It  was  one  of  the  first  works,  therefore,  which 
received  the  honors  of  the  press  in  Spain ;  and  surely 
none  could  have  been  found,  at  that  period,  more  de- 
serving of  them.  It  went  through  repeated  editions 
in  the  course  of  that  and  the  commencement  of  the 
following  century."    It  was  admitted  as   paramount 

against  these  abuses,  which  lead  the  writer  in  the  last  stanza  to  envy 
even  the  summary  style  of  Mahometan  justice : 

"  En  tierra  de  Moros  un  solo  alcalde 
Libra  lo  cevil  e  lo  creminal, 
E  todo  el  dia  se  esta  de  valde 
Por  la  justicia  andar  muy  igiial : 
Alii  non  es  Azo,  nin  es  Decretal, 
Nin  es  Roberto,  nin  la  Clementina, 
Salvo  discrecion  e  buena  doctrina. 
La  qual  muestra  a  todos  vevir  communal." 

p.  389- 
w  Mendez  enumerates  no  less  than  five  editions  of  this  code,  by  1500 ; 
a  sufficient  evidence  of  its  authority,  and  general  reception  throughout 
Castile.    Typographia  Espafiola,  pp.  203,  261,  270. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


895 


authority  throughout  Castile ;  and,  although  the  many 
innovations  which  were  introduced  in  that  age  of  re- 
form required  the  addition  of  two  subsidiary  codes  in 
the  latter  years  of  Isabella,  the  "Ordenan^as"  of  Mon- 
talvo  continued  to  be  the  guide  of  the  tribunals  down 
to  the  time  of  Philip  the  Second,  and  may  be  said 
to  have  suggested  the  idea,  as  indeed  it  was  the  basis, 
of  the  comprehensive  compilation,  "  Nueva  Recopila- 
cion,"  which  has  since  formed  the  law  of  the  Spanish 
monarchy." 

III.  Depression  of  the  nobles.  In  the  course  of  the 
preceding  chapters,  we  have  seen  the  extent  of  the 
privileges  constitutionally  enjoyed  by  the  aristocracy, 
as  well  as  the  enormous  height  to  which  they  had 
swollen  under  the  profuse  reigns  of  John  the  Second 
and  Henry  the  Fourth.  This  was  such,  at  the  accession 
of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  as  to  disturb  the  balance  of 
the  constitution,  and  to  give  serious  cause  of  apprehen- 
sion both  to  the  monarch  and  the  people.  The  nobles 
had  introduced  themselves  into  every  great  post  of  profit 
or  authority.  They  had  ravished  from  the  crown  the 
estates  on  which  it  depended  for  its  maintenance  a. 

="  Ordenan9as  Reales,  Pr61ogo. — Mem.  de  la  Acad,  de  Hist.,  torn, 
vi.  Ilust.  9. — Marina,  Ensayo  hist6rico-critico,  pp.  390  et  seq. — Men- 
dez,  Typographia  Espanola,  p.  261. — The  authors  of  the  three  last- 
mentioned  works  abundantly  disprove  Asso  y  Manuel's  insinuation, 
that  Montalvo's  code  was  the  fruit  of  his  private  study,  without  any 
commission  for  it,  and  that  it  gradually  usurped  an  authority  which  it 
had  not  in  its  origin.  (Discurso  preliminaral  Ord.  de  AlcaM.)  The 
injustice  of  the  last  remark,  indeed,  is  apparent  from  the  positive  decla- 
ration of  Bernaldez :  "  Los  Reyes  mandaron  tener  en  todas  las  ciuda- 
des,  villas  h  lugares  el  libro  de  Montalvo,  i  por  el  determinar  todas  las 
cosas  dejusAcia  para  cortar  los  pleitos."  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap. 
42. 


296 


ADMINISTRATION  OP   CASTILE, 


well  as  dignity.  They  coined  money  in  their  own 
mints,  like  sovereign  princes;  and  they  covered  the 
country  with  their  fortified  castles,  whence  they  defied 
the  law,  and  desolated  the  unhappy  land  with  inter- 
minable feuds.  It  was  obviously  necessary  for  the  new 
sovereigns  to  proceed  with  the  greatest  caution  against 
this  powerful  and  jealous  body,  and,  above  all,  to  at- 
tempt no  measure  of  importance  in  which  they  would 
not  be  supported  by  the  hearty  co-operation  of  the 
nation. 

The  first  measure  which  mry  be  said  to  have  clearly 
developed  their  policy  was  the  organization  of  the 
hermandad,  which,  although  ostensibly  directed  against 
offenders  of  a  more  humble  description,  was  made  to 
bear  indirectly  upon  the  nobility,  whom  it  kept  in  awe 
by  the  number  and  discipline  of  its  forces,  and  the 
promptness  with  which  it  could  assemble  them  on  the 
most  remote  points  of  the  kingdom;  while  its  rights 
of  jurisdiction  tended  materially  to  abridge  those  of 
the  seignorial  tribunals.  It  was  accordingly  resisted  with 
the  greatest  pertinacity  by  the  aristocracy;  although,  as 
we  have  seen,  the  resolution  of  the  queen,  supported 
by  the  constancy  of  the  commons,  enabled  her  to  tri- 
umph over  all  opposition,  until  the  great  objects  of  the 
institution  were  accomplished. 

Another  measure,  which  insensibly  operated  to  the 
depression  of  the  nobility,  was  making  official  prefer- 
ment depend  less  exclusively  on  rank,  and  much  more 
on  personal  merit,  than  before.  "Since  the  hope  of 
guerdon,"  says  one  of  the  statutes  enacted  at  Toledo, 
"is  the  spur  to  just  and  honorable  actions,  when  men 
perceive  that  offices  of  trust  are  not  to  descend  by  in- 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


297 


heritance,  but  to  be  conferred  on  merit,  they  will  strive 
to  excel  in  virtue,  that  they  may  attain  its  reward."" 
The  sovereigns,  instead  of  confining  themselves  to  the 
grandees,  frequently  advanced  persons  of  humble  origin, 
and  especially  those  learned  in  the  law,  to  the  most 
responsible  stations,  consulting  them,  and  ^^^  ^.g  great 
deference  to  their  opinions,  on  all  matters  of  impor- 
tance. The  nobles,  finding  that  rank  was  no  longer  the 
sole,  or  indeed  the  necessary,  avenue  to  promotion, 
sought  to  secure  it  by  attention  to  more  liberal  studies, 
in  which  they  were  greatly  encouraged  by  Isabella, 
who  admitted  their  children  into  her  palace,  where 
they  were  reared  under  her  own  eye."^ 

But  the  boldest  assaults  on  the  power  of  the  aris- 
tocracy were  made  in  the  famous  cortes  of  Toledo,  in 
1480,  which  Carbajal  enthusiastically  styles  **cosa 
divina  para  reformacion  y  remedio  de  las  desordenes 
pasadas.""*  The  first  object  of  its  attention  was  the 
condition  of  the  exchequer,  which  Henry  the  Fourth 
had  so  exhausted  by  his  reckless  prodigality  that  the 
clear  annual  revenue  amounted  to  no  more  than  thirty 
thousand  ducats,  a  sum  much  inferior  to  that  enjoyed 
by  many  private  individuals;  so  that,  stripped  of  his 
patrimony,  it  at  last  came  to  be  said,  he  was  "king 
only  of  the  highways."  Such  had  been  the  royal 
necessities  that  blank  certificates  of  annuities  assigned 
on  the  public  rents  were  hawked  about  the  market,  and 
sold  at  such  a  depreciated  rate  that  the  price  of  an 


"  Ordenan9as  Reales,  lib.  7,  tit.  2,  ley  13. 

»3  Oviedo,  Quincuagenas,  MS.,  bat.  i,  quinc.  i,  dial.  44. — Sempere 
notices  this  feature  of  the  royal  policy.     Hist,  des  Cortes,  chap.  24. 
»♦  Carbajal,  Anales,  MS.  afio  80. 


298 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


annuity  did  not  exceed  the  amount  of  one  year's  in- 
come. The  commons  saw  with  alarm  the  weight  of  the 
burdens  which  must  devolve  on  ihem  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  crown  thus  impoverished  in  its  resources; 
and  they  resolved  to  meet  the  difficulty  by  advising  at 
once  a  resumption  of  the  grants  unconstitutionally  made 
during  the  latter  half  of  Henry  the  Fourth's  reign,  and 
the  commencement  of  the  present.'*  This  measure, 
however  violent  and  repugnant  to  good  faith  it  may 
appear  at  the  present  time,  seems  then  to  have  admitted 
of  justification,  as  far  as  the  nation  was  concerned ; 
since  such  alienation  of  the  public  revenue  was  in  itself 
illegal,  and  contrary  to  the  coronation  oath  of  the 
sovereign;  and  those  who  accepted  his  obligations 
held  them  subject  to  the  liability  of  their  revocation, 
which  had  frequently  occurred  under  the  preceding 
reigns. 

As  the  intended  measure  involved  the  interests  of 
most  of  the  considerable  proprietors  in  the  kingdom, 
who  had  thriven  on  the  necessities  of  the  crown,  it  was 
deemed  proper  to  require  the  attendance  of  the  nobility 
and  great  ecclesiastics  in  cortes  by  a  special  summons, 
which  it  seems  had  been  previously  omitted.  Thus 
convened,  the  legislature  appears,  with  great  unanimity, 
and  much  to  the  credit  of  those  most  deeply  affected 
by  it,  to  have  acquiesced  in  the  proposed  resumption 


"S  See  the  emphatic  language,  on  this  and  other  grievances,  of  the 
Castilian  commons,  in  their  memorial  to  the  sovereigns,  Apendice, 
No.  lo,  of  Clemencin's  valuable  compilation.  The  commons  had 
p  essed  the  measure,  as  one  of  the  last  necessity  to  the  crown,  as  early 
as  the  cortes  of  Madrigal,  in  1476.  The  reader  will  find  the  whole 
petition  extracted  by  Marina,  Teoria,  tom.  ii.  cap.  5. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


399 


of  the  grants,  as  a  measure  of  absolute  necessity.  The 
only  difficulty  was  to  settle  the  principles  on  which  the 
retrenchment  mi  be  most  equitably  made,  with 
reference  to  creditors,  whose  claims  rested  on  a  great 
variety  of  grounds.  The  plan  suggested  by  Cardinal 
Mendoza  seems  to  have  been  partially  adopted.  It  was 
decided  that  all  whose  pensions  had  been  conferred 
without  any  corresponding  services  on  their  part  should 
forfeit  them  entirely;  that  those  who  had  purchased 
annuities  should  return  their  certificates  on  a  reim- 
bursement of  the  price  paid  for  them;  and  that  the 
remaining  creditors,  who  composed  the  largest  class, 
should  retain  such  a  proportion  only  of  their  pensions 
as  might  be  judged  commensurate  with  their  services  to 
the  state.'' 

By  this  important  reduction,  the  final  adjustment  and 
execution  of  which  were  intrusted  to  Fernando  de 
Talavera,  the  queen's  confessor,  a  man  of  austere 
probity,  the  gross  amount  of  thirty  millions  of  mara- 
vedis,  a  sum  equal  to  three-fourths  of  the  whole  revenue 
on  Isabella's  accession,  was  annually  saved  to  the  crown. 
The  retrenchment  was  conducted  with  such  strict  im- 
partiality that  the  most  confidential  servants  of  the 
queen,  and  the  relatives  of  her  husband,  were  among 
those  who  suffered  the  most  severely.''    It  is  worthy 


a*  Salazar  de  Mendoza,  Cr6n.  del  Gran  Cardenal,  cap.  51. — Mem. 
de  la  Acad.de  Hist.,  tom.vi.  Ilust.  5. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Cp  olicos,  part. 
2,  cap.  95. — Ordenangas  Reales,  lib.  6,  tit.  4,  ley  26 ; — incoqiorated  also 
into  the  Recopilacion  of  Philip  II.,  lib.  5,  tit.  10,  cap.  17.  See  also  leycs 
3  and  15. 

»7  Admiral  Enriquez,  for  instance,  resigned  240,000  maraved'i  of 
his  annual  income; — the  duke  of  Alva,  575,000; — the  duke  of  Me- 
dina Sidonia,  180,000. — The  loyal  family  of  the  Mendozas  were  also 


300 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


of  remark  that  no  diminution  whatever  was  made  of 
the  stipends  settled  on  literary  and  charitable  establish- 
ments. It  may  be  also  added  that  Isabella  appropriated 
the  first-fruits  of  this  measure,  by  distributing  the  sum 
of  twenty  millions  of  maravedis  among  the  widows  and 
orphans  of  those  loyalists  who  had  fallen  in  the  War  of 
the  Succession.*  This  resumption  of  grants  may  be 
considered  as  the  basis  of  those  economical  reforms 
which,  without  oppression  to  the  subject,  augmented 
the  public  revenue  more  than  twelvefold  during  this 
auspicious  reign."* 

Several  other  acts  were  passed  by  the  same  cortes, 
which  had  a  more  exclusive  bearing  on  the  nobility. 
They  were  prohibited  from  quartering  the  royal  arms 
on  their  escutcheons,  from  being  attended  by  a  mace- 
bearer  and  a  body-guard,  from  imitating  the  regal  style 
of  address  in  their  written  correspondence,  and  other 
insignia  of  royaity  which  they  had  arrogantly  assumed. 
They  were  forbidden  to  erect  new  fortresses,  and  we 
have  already  seen  the  activity  of  the  queen  in  procuring 
the  demolition  or  restitution  of  the  old.     They  were 


I 


great  losers,  but  none  forfeited  so  much  as  the  overgrown  favorite  of 
Henry  IV.,  Beltran  de  la  Cueva,  duke  of  Albuquerque,  who  had  uni- 
formly supported  the  royal  cause,  and  whose  retrenchment  amounted 
to  1,400,000  maravedis  of  yearly  rent.  See  the  scale  of  reduction  given 
at  length  by  Sefior  Clemencin,  in  Mem.  de  la  Acad.,  torn.  vi.  loc.  cit. 

*8  "  No  monarch,"  said  the  high-minded  queen,  "  should  consent  to 
alienate  his  demesnes ;  since  the  loss  of  revenue  necessarily  deprives 
him  of  the  best  means  of  rewarding  the  attachment  of  his  friends,  and 
of  making  himself  feared  by  his  enemies."  Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos, 
part.  I,  cap.  4. 

»9  Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  ubi  supra. — Mem.  de  la  Acad,  de  Hist., 
torn.  vi.  loc.  cit. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


%Q\ 


expressly  restrained  from  duels,  an  inveterate  source  of 
mischief,  for  engaging  in  which  the  parties,  both  prin- 
cipals and  seconds,  were  subjected  to  the  penalties  of 
treason.  Isabella  evinced  her  determination  to  en- 
force this  law  on  the  highest  offenders,  by  imprison- 
ing, soon  after  its  enactment,  the  counts  of  Luna  and 
Valencia  for  exchanging  a  cartel  of  defiance,  until  the 
point  a*,  issue  should  be  settled  by  the  regular  course 
of  juFtice.** 

It  is  true  the  haughty  nobility  of  Castile  winced  more 
than  once  at  finding  themselves  so  tightly  curbed  by 
their  new  masters.  On  one  occasion,  a  number  of  the 
principal  grandees,  with  the  duke  of  Infantado  at  their 
head,  addressed  a  letter  of  remonstrance  to  the  king 
and  queen,  requiring  them  to  abolish  the  hermandad, 
as  an  institution  burdensome  to  the  nation,  deprecating 
the  slight  degree  of  confidence  which  their  highnesses 
reposed  in  their  order,  and  requesting  that  four  of  their 
number  might  be  selected  to  form  a  council  for  the 
general  direction  of  affairs  of  state,  by  whose  advice  the 
king  and  queen  should  be  governed  in  all  matters  of 
importance,  as  in  the  time  of  Henry  the  Fourth. 

Ferdinand  and  Isabella  received  this  unseasonable 
remonstrance  with  great  indignation,  and  returned  an 


3°  Ordenan9as  Reales,  lib.  2,  tit.  i,  ley  2;  lib.  4,  tit.  9,  ley  11. — Pul- 
gar,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  part.  2,  cap.  96,  loi. — Recop.  de  las  Leyes,  lib. 
8,  tit.  8,  ley  10  et  al. — These  affairs  were  conducted  in  the  true  spirit 
of  knight-errantry.  Oviedo  mentions  one,  in  which  two  young  men 
of  the  noble  houses  of  Velasco  and  Ponce  de  Leon  agreed  to  fight  on 
horseback,  with  sharp  spears  {puntas  de  diamantes),  in  doublet  and 
hose,  without  defensive  armor  of  any  kind.  The  place  appointed  for 
the  combat  was  a  narrow  bridge  across  the  Xarama,  three  leagues 
from  Madrid.    Quincuagenas,  MS.,  bat.  i,  quinc.  i,  dial.  23. 


S02 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


|i    • 


I    li 


m 


answer  couched  in  the  haughtiest  terms.  "  The  her- 
mandad,"  they  said,  "is  an  institution  most  salutary 
to  the  nation,  and  is  approved  by  it  as  such.  It  is  our 
province  to  determine  who  are  best  entitled  to  prefer- 
ment, and  to  make  merit  the  standard  of  it.  You  may 
follow  the  court,  or  retire  to  your  estates,  as  you  think 
best ;  but,  so  long  as  Heaven  permits  us  to  retain  the 
rank  with  which  we  have  been  intrusted,  we  shall  take 
care  not  to  iniitate  the  example  of  Henry  the  Fourth, 
in  becoming  a  tool  in  the  hands  of  our  nobility."  The 
discontented  lords,  who  had  carried  so  high  a  hand 
under  the  preceding  imbecile  reign,  feeling  the  weight 
of  an  authority  which  rested  on  the  affections  of  the 
people,  were  so  disconcerted  by  the  rebuke,  that  they 
made  no  attempt  to  rally,  but  condescended  to  make 
their  peace  separately  as  they  could,  by  the  most  ample 
acknowledgments. '' 

An  example  of  the  impartiality  as  well  as  spirit  with 
which  Isabella  asserted  the  dignity  of  the  crown  is 
worth  recording.  During  her  husband's  absence  in 
Aragon  in  the  spring  of  1481,  a  quarrel  occurred,  in 
the  antechamber  of  the  palace  at  Valladolid,  between 
two  young  noblemen,  Ramiro  Nufiez  de  Guzman,  lord 
of  Toral,  and  Frederick  Henriquez,  son  of  the  admiral 
of  Castile,  King  Ferdinand's  uncle.  The  queen,  on 
receiving  intelligence  of  it,  granted  a  safe-conduct  to 
the  lord  of  Toral,  as  the  weaker  party,  until  the  affair 
should  be  adjusted  between  them.  Don  Frederick,  how- 
ever, disregarding  this  protection,  caused  his  enemy 
to  be  waylaid  by  three  of  his  followers,  armed  with 

V  Ferreras,  Hist.  d'E^pagne,  torn.  vii.  pp.  487,  488. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


303 


bludgeons,  and  sorely  beaten  one  evening  in  the  streets 
of  Valladolid. 

Isabella  was  no  sooner  informed  of  this  outrage  on 
one  whom  she  had  taken  under  the  royal  protection, 
than,  burning  with  indignation,  she  immediately 
mounted  her  horse,  though  in  the  midst  of  a  heavy 
storm  of  rain,  and  proceeded  alone  towards  the  castle 
of  Simancas,  then  in  possession  of  the  r;  Jmiral,  the 
father  of  the  offender,  where  she  supposed  him  to  have 
taken  refuge,  travelling  all  the  while  with  such  M^jiditr 
that  she  was  not  overtaken  by  the  officers  oi  her  gu  id 
until  she  had  reached  the  fortress.  She  instantly  sum- 
moned the  admiral  to  deliver  up  his  son  to  justice ;  and, 
on  his  replying  that "  Don  Frederick  was  not  there,  m\k\. 
that  he  was  ignorant  where  he  was,"  she  comma  ided 
him  to  surrender  the  keys  of  the  castle,  and,  after  a 
fruitless  search,  again  returned  to  Valladolid.  The  next 
day  Isabella  was  confined  to  her  bed  by  an  illness  occa- 
sioned as  much  by  chagrin  as  by  the  excessive  fatigue 
which  she  had  undergone.  **  My  body  is  lame,"  said 
she,  "with  the  blows  given  by  Don  Frederick  in  con- 
tempt of  my  safe-conduct. ' ' 

The  admiral,  perceiving  how  deeply  he  and  his 
family  had  incurred  the  displeasure  of  li*^  queen,  took 
counsel  with  his  friends,  who  were  led  by  their  knowl- 
edge of  Isabella's  character  to  believe  that  he  would 
have  more  to  hope  from  the  surrender  of  his  son  than 
from  further  attempts  at  concealment.  The  young 
man  was  accordingly  conducted  to  the  palace  by  his 
uncle,  the  constable  de  Haro,  who  deprecated  the 
queen's  resentment  by  representing  the  age  of  his 
nephew,  scarcely  amounting  to  twenty  years.    Isabella, 


1 1 

P 

I 


304 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


Ill 


I 

i 

I 

I 


however,  thought  proper  to  punish  the  youthful  delin- 
quent, by  ordering  him  to  be  publicly  conducted  as  a 
prisoner,  by  one  of  the  alcaldes  of  her  court,  through 
the  great  square  of  Valladolid  to  the  fortress  of  Are- 
valo,  where  he  was  detained  in  strict  confinement,  all 
privilege  of  access  being  denied  to  him ;  and  when  at 
length,  moved  by  the  consideration  of  his  consanguinity 
with  the  king,  she  consented  to  his  release,  she  banished 
him  to  Sicily,  until  he  should  receive  the  royal  per- 
mission to  return  to  his  own  country. ^^ 

Notwithstanding  the  strict  impartiality  as  well  as 
vigor  of  the  administration,  it  could  never  have  main- 
tained itself  by  its  own  resources  alone,  in  its  offensive 
operations  against  the  high-spirited  aristocracy  of  Cas- 
tile. Its  most  direct  approaches,  however,  were  made, 
as  we  have  seen,  under  cover  of  the  cortes.  The  sov- 
ereigns showed  great  deference,  especially  in  this  early 
period  of  their  reign,  to  the  popular  branch  of  this 
body;  and,  far  from  pursuing  the  odious  policy  of 
preceding  princes  in  diminishing  the  amount  of  repre- 
sented cities,  they  never  failed  to  direct  their  writs  to 
all  those  which,  at  their  accession,  retained  the  right 
of  representation,  and  subsequently  enlarged  the  num- 
ber by  the  conquest  of  Granada ;  while  they  exercised 
the  anomalous  privilege,  noticed  in  the  Introduction 
to  this  History,  of  omitting  altogether,  or  issuing  only 
a  partial  summons  to  the  nobility. 3'    By  making  merit 

3»  Carbajal,  Anales,  MS.,  aiio  80. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  part.  2, 
cap.  100. 

33  For  example,  at  the  great  cortes  of  Toledo,  in  1480,  it  does  not 
appear  that  any  of  the  nobility  were  summoned,  except  those  in  im- 
mediate attendance  on  the  court,  until  the  measure  for  the  resumption 
of  the  grants,  which  so  nearly  affected  that  body,  was  brought  before 
the  legislature. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


305 


the  standard  of  preferment,  they  opened  the  path  of 
honor  to  every  class  of  the  community.  They  uni- 
formly manifested  the  greatest  tenderness  for  the  rights 
of  the  commons  in  reference  to  taxation ;  and,  as  their 
patriotic  policy  was  obviously  directed  to  secure  the 
personal  rights  and  general  prosperity  of  the  people,  it 
insured  the  co-operation  of  an  ally  whose  weight,  com- 
bined with  that  of  the  crown,  enabled  them  eventually 
to  restore  the  equilibrium  which  had  been  disturbed  by 
the  undue  preponderance  of  the  aristocracy. 

It  may  be  well  to  state  here  the  policy  pursued  by 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  in  reference  to  the  Military 
Orders  of  Castile,  since,  although  not  fully  developed 
until  a  much  later  period,  it  was  first  conceived,  and 
indeed  partly  executed,  in  that  now  under  discussion. 

The  uninterrupted  warfare,  which  the  Spaniards  were 
compelled  to  maintain  for  the  recovery  of  their  native 
land  from  the  infidel,  nourished  in  their  bosoms  a  flame 
of  enthusiasm  similar  to  that  kindled  by  the  crusades 
for  the  recovery  of  Palestine,  partaking  in  an  almost 
equal  degree  of  a  religious  and  a  military  character. 
This  similarity  of  sentiment  gave  birth  also  to  similar 
institutions  of  chivalry.  Whether  the  military  orders 
of  Castile  were  suggested  by  those  of  Palestine,  or 
whether  they  go  back  to  a  remoter  period,  as  is  con- 
tended by  their  chroniclers,  or  whether,  in  fine,  as 
Conde  intimates,  they  were  imitated  from  correspond- 
ing associations  known  to  have  existed  among  the 
Spanish  Arabs,3*  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  forms 

34  Conde  gives  the  following  account  of  these  chivalric  associations 
among  the  Spanish  Arabs,  which,  as  far  as  I  know,  have  hitherto  es- 
caped the  notice  of  European  historians.     "  The  Moslem  fronteros  pro- 
VOL.  I. — 20 


fl 


ti 


'  I  ? 


: 


3o6 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


B    1 


under  which  they  were  permanently  organized  were 
derived,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  twelfth  century,  from 
the  monastic  orders  established  for  the  protection  of 
the  Holy  Land.  The  Hospitallers,  and  especially  the 
Templars,  obtained  more  extensive  acquisitions  in 
Spain  than  in  any,  perhaps  every,  other  country  in 
Christendom ;  and  it  was  partly  from  the  ruins  of  their 
empire  that  were  constructed  the  magnificent  fortunes 
of  the  Spanish  orders.^s 

The  most  eminent  of  these  was  the  order  of  St. 
Jago,  or  St.  James,  of  Compostella.  The  miraculous 
revelation  of  the  body  of  the  apostle,  after  the  lapse 
of  eight  centuries  from  the  date  of  his  interment,  and 
his  frequent  apparition  in  the  ranks  of  the  Christian 
armies  in  their  desperate  struggles  with  the  infidel,  had 
given  so  wide  a  celebrity  to  the  obscure  town  of  Com- 


fessed  great  austerity  in  their  lives,  which  they  consecrated  to  perpetual 
war,  and  bound  themselves  by  a  solemn  vow  to  defend  the  frontier 
against  the  incursions  of  the  Christians.  They  were  choice  cavaliers, 
possessed  of  consummate  patience,  and  enduring  fatigue,  and  always 
prepared  to  die  rather  than  desert  their  posts.  It  appears  highly  proba- 
ble that  the  Moorish  fraternities  suggested  the  idea  of  those  military 
orders,  so  renowned  for  their  valor  in  Spain  and  in  Palestine,  which 
rendered  such  essential  services  to  Christendom ;  for  both  the  institu- 
tions were  established  on  similar  principles."  Conde,  Historia  de  la 
Dominacion  de  los  Arabes  en  ElspaRa  (Madrid,  1820),  torn.  i.  p.  619, 
note. 

35  See  the  details,  given  by  Mariana,  of  the  overgrown  possessions 
of  the  Templars  i  Castile  at  the  period  of  their  extinction,  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  fourteenth  century.  (Hist,  de  Espafia,  lib.  15,  cap.  10.) 
The  knights  of  the  Temple  and  the  Hospitallers  seem  to  have  ac- 
quired still  greater  power  in  Aragon,  where  one  of  the  monarchs  was 
so  infatuated  as  to  bequeath  them  his  whole  dominions, — a  bequest 
which,  it  may  well  be  believed,  was  set  aside  by  his  high-spirited  sub- 
jects.    Zurita,  Anales,  lib.  1,  cap.  52. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


307 


postella  in  Galicia,  which  contained  the  sainted  relics,3> 
that  it  became  the  resort  of  pilgrims  from  every  part 
of  Christendom  during  the  Middle  Ages ;  and  the  es- 
calop  shell,  the  device  of  St.  James,  was  adopted  as 
the  universal  badge  of  the  palmer.  Inns  for  the  re- 
freshment and  security  of  the  pious  itinerants  were 
scattered  along  the  whole  line  of  the  route  from 
France ;  but,  as  they  were  exposed  to  perpetual  annoy- 
ance from  the  predatory  incursions  of  the  Arabs,  a 
number  of  knights  and  gentlemen  associated  them- 
selves, for  their  protection,  with  the  monks  of  St.  Lojo, 
or  Eloy,  adopting  the  rule  of  St  Augustine,  and  thus 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  chivalric  order  of  St.  James, 
about  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century.  The  cava- 
liers of  the  fraternity,  which  received  its  papal  bull  of 
approbation  five  years  later,  in  11 75,  were  distin- 
guished by  a  white  mantle  embroidered  with  a  red 
cross,  in  fashion  of  a  sword,  with  the  escalop  shell 

3^  The  apparition  of  certain  preternatural  lights  in  a  forest  discovered 
to  a  Galician  peasant,  in  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  century,  the  spot 
in  which  was  deposited  a  marble  sepulchre  containing  the  ashes  of  St. 
James.  The  miracle  is  reported  with  sufficient  circumstantiality  by 
Florez  (Historia  Compostellana,  lib.  i,  cap.  2,  apud  Espafia  sagrada, 
tom.  XX.)  and  Ambrosio  de  Morales  (Cor6nica  general  de  Espafia 
(Obras,  Madrid,  1791-3).  lib.  9,  cap.  7),  who  establishes,  to  his  own 
satisfaction,  the  advent  of  St.  James  into  Spain.  Mariana,  with  more 
skepticism  than  his  brethren,  doubts  the  genuineness  of  the  body,  as 
well  as  the  visit  of  the  apostle,  but,  like  a  good  Jesuit,  concludes,  "  It 
is  not  expedient  to  disturb  with  such  disputes  the  devotion  of  the 
people,  so  firmly  settled  as  it  is."  (Lib.  7  .ap.  10.)  The  tutelar  saint 
of  Spain  continued  to  support  his  people  by  taking  part  with  them  in  \ 
battle  against  the  infidel  down  to  a  very  late  period.  Caro  de  Torres 
mentions  two  engagements  in  which  he  cheered  on  the  squadrons  of 
Cortes  and  Pizarro,  "  with  his  sword  flashing  lightning  in  the  eyes  of 
the  Indians."     Ordenes  militares,  fol.  5. 


3o8 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


below  the  guard,  in  imitation  of  the  device  which  glit- 
tered on  the  banner  of  their  tutelar  saint  when  he  con- 
descended to  take  part  in  their  engagements  with  the 
Moors.  The  red  color  denoted,  according  to  an  an- 
cient commentator,  "  that  it  was  stained  with  the  blood 
of  the  infidel."  The  rules  of  the  new  order  imposed 
on  its  members  the  usual  obligations  of  obedience, 
community  of  property,  and  of  conjugal  chastity,  in- 
stead of  celibacy.  They  were,  moreover,  required  to 
relieve  the  poor,  defend  the  traveller,  and  maintain 
perpetual  war  upon  the  Mussulman. 3" 

The  institution  of  the  Knights  of  Calatrava  was 
somewhat  more  romantic  in  its  origin.  That  town, 
from  its  situation  on  the  frontiers  of  the  Moorish  terri- 
tory of  Andalusia,  where  it  commanded  the  passes  into 
Castile,  became  of  vital  importance  to  the  latter  king- 
dom. Its  defence  had  accordingly  been  intrusted  to 
the  valiant  order  of  the  Templars,  who,  unable  to  keep 
their  ground  against  the  pertinacious  assaults  of  the 
Moslems,  abandoned  it,  at  the  expiration  of  eight 
years,  as  untenable.  This  occurred  about  the  middle 
of  the  twelfth  century;  and  the  CastUian  monarch, 
Sancho  the  Beloved,  as  the  last  resort,  offered  it  to 
whatever  good  knights  would  undertake  its  defence. 

The  emprise  was  eagerly  sought  by  a  monk  of  a  dis- 
tant convent  in  Navarre,  who  had  once  been  a  soldier, 
and  whose  military  ardor  seems  to  have  been  exalted, 
instead  of  being  extinguished,  in  the  solitude  of  the 
cloister.      The  monk,  supported  by  his   conventual 

37  Rades  y  Andrada,  Las  tres  Ordenes,  fol.  3-15. — Caro  ds  Torres, 
Ordeiies  militares,  fol.  2-8. — Garibay,  Compendio,  torn,  ii,  pp.  116- 
118. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


309 


brethren,  and  a  throng  of  cavaliers  and  more  humble 
followers,  who  sought  redemption  under  the  banner  of 
the  church,  was  enabled  to  make  good  his  word.  From 
the  confederation  of  these  knights  and  ecclesiastics 
sprung  St  military  frateTiity  of  Calatrava,  which  re- 
ceived th  confirmation  of  the  pontiff,  Alexander  the 
Third,  in  11 64.  The  rules  which  it  adopted  were 
those  of  St.  Benedict,  and  its  discipline  was  in  the 
highest  degree  austere. 

The  cavaliers  were  sworn  to  perpetual  celibacy,  from 
which  they  were  not  released  till  so  late  as  the  sixteenth 
century.  Their  diet  was  of  the  plainest  kind.  They 
were  allowed  meat  only  thrice  a  week,  and  then  only 
one  dish.  They  were  to  maintain  unbroken  silence  at 
the  table,  in  the  chapel,  and  the  dormitory;  and  they 
were  enjoined  both  to  sleep  and  to  worship  with  the 
sword  girt  on  their  side,  in  token  of  readiness  for  action. 
In  the  earlier  days  of  the  institution,  the  spiritual  as  well 
as  the  military  brethren  were  allowed  to  make  part  of 
the  martial  array  against  the  infidel,  until  this  was 
prohibited,  as  indecorous,  by  the  Holy  See.  From 
this  order  branched  off  that  of  Montesa,  in  Valencia, 
which  was  instituted  at  the  commencement  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  and  continued  dependent  on  the  parent 
Sy.  ick.* 

The  third  great  order  of  religious  chivalry  in  Castile 
was  that  of  Alcantara,  which  also  received  its  confirma- 
tion from  Pope  Alexander  the  Third,  in  11 77.  It  was 
long  held  in  nominal  subordination  to  the  knights  of 

38  Rades  y  Andrada,  Las  tres  Ordenes,  part.  2,  fol.  3-9,  49. — Caro 
de  Torres,  Ordenes  militares,  fol.  49,  50. — Garibay,  Compendio,  torn, 
ii.  pp.  100-104. 


310 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE, 


Calatrava,  from  which  it  was  relieved  by  Julius  the 
Second,  and  eventually  rose  to  an  importance  little  in- 
ferior to  that  of  its  rival.* 

The  internal  economy  of  these  three  fraternities  was 
regulated  by  the  same  general  principles.  The  direc- 
tion of  affairs  was  intrusted  to  a  council,  consisting  of 
the  grand  master  and  a  number  of  the  commanders 
(comendadores)y  among  whom  the  extensive  territories 
of  the  order  were  distributed.  This  council,  conjointly 
with  the  grand  master,  or  the  latter  exclusively,  as  in 
the  fraternity  of  Calatrava,  supplied  the  vacancies. 
The  master  himself  was  elected  by  a  general  chapter 
of  these  military  functionaries  alone,  or  combined  with 
the  conventual  clergy,  as  in  the  order  of  Calatrava, 
which  seems-  to  have  recognized  the  oi'premacy  of  the 
military  over  the  spiritual  <  vision  of  the  community 
more  unreservedly  than  that  of  St.  James. 

These  institutions  appear  to  have  completely  an- 
swered the  objects  of  their  creation.  In  the  earlier 
history  of  the  Peninsula,  we  find  the  Christian  chivalry 
always  ready  to  bear  the  brunt  of  battle  against  the 
Moors.  Set  apart  for  this  peculiar  duty,  their  services 
in  the  sanctuary  only  tended  to  prepare  them  for  their 
sterner  duties  in  the  field  of  battle,  where  the  zeal  of 
the  Christian  soldier  may  be  supposed  to  have  been 
somewhat  sharpened  by  the  prospect  of  the  rich  tem- 
poral acquisitions  which  the  success  of  his  arms  was 
sure  to  secure  to  his  fraternity;  for  the  superstitious 
princes  of  those  times,  in  addition  to  the  wealth  lav- 
ished so  liberally  on  all  monastic  institutions,  granted 

39  Rades  y  Andrada,  Las  tres  Ordenes,  part.  3,  fol.  1-6. — The  knights 
of  Aleantara  wore  a  white  mantle,  embroidered  with  a  green  cross. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


3" 


the  military  orders  almost  unlimited  rights  over  the 
conquests  achieved  by  their  own  valor.  In  the  six- 
teenth century,  we  find  the  order  of  St.  James,  which 
had  shot  up  to  a  pre-eminence  above  the  rest,  possessed 
of  eighty-four  commanderies  and  two  hundred  inferior 
benefices.  The  same  order  could  bring  into  the  field, 
according  to  Garibay,  four  hundred  belted  knights, 
and  one  thousand  lances,  which,  with  the  usual  com- 
plement of  a  lance  in  that  day,  formed  a  very  con- 
siderable force.  The  rents  of  the  mastership  of  St. 
James  amounted,  in  the  time  of  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella, to  sixty  thousand  ducats,  those  of  Alcantara  to 
forty-five  thousand,  and  those  of  Calatrava  to  forty 
thousand.  There  was  scarcely  a  district  of  the  Pen- 
insula which  was  not  covered  with  their  castles,  towns, 
and  convents.  Their  rich  commanderies  gradually  be- 
came objects  of  cupidity  to  men  of  the  highest  rank, 
and  more  especially  the  grand-masterships,  which,  from 
their  extensive  patronage,  and  the  authority  they  con- 
ferred over  an  organized  militia  pledged  to  implicit 
obedience  and  knit  together  by  the  strong  tie  of  com- 
mon interest,  raised  their  possessors  almost  to  the  level 
of  royalty  itself.  Hence  the  elections  to  these  im- 
portant dignities  came  to  be  a  fruitful  source  of  intrigue, 
and  frequently  of  violent  collision.  The  monarchs,  who 
had  anciently  reserved  the  right  of  testifying  their  ap- 
probation of  an  election,  by  presenting  the  standard 
of  the  order  to  the  new  dignitary,  began  personally  to 
interfere  in  the  deliberations  of  the  chapter;  while  the 
pope,  to  whom  a  contested  point  was  not  unfrequently 
referred,  assumed  at  length  the  prerogative  of  granting 
the  masterships  in  administration  on  a  vacancy,  and 


3" 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


II' 


even  that  of  nomination  itself,  which,  if  disputed,  he 
enforced  by  his  spiritual  thunders.** 

Owing  to  these  circumstances,  there  was  probably  no 
one  cause,  among  the  many  which  occurred  in  Castile 
during  the  fifteenth  century,  more  prolific  of  intestine 
discord  than  the  election  to  these  posts,  far  too  im- 
portant to  be  intrusted  to  any  subject,  and  the  succes- 
sion to  which  was  sure  to  be  contested  by  a  host  of 
competitors.  Isabella  seems  to  have  settled  in  her  mind 
the  course  of  policy  to  be  adopted  in  this  matter,  at  a 
very  early  period  of  her  reign.  On  occasion  of  a 
vacancy  in  the  grand-mastership  of  St.  James,  by  the 
death  of  the  incumbent,  in  1476,  she  made  a  rapid 
journey  on  horseback,  her  usual  mode  of  travelling, 
from  Valladolid  to  the  town  of  Ucles,  where  a  chapter 
of  the  order  was  deliberating  on  the  election  of  a  new 
principal.  The  queen,  presenting  herself  before  this 
body,  represented  with  so  much  energy  the  incon- 
venience of  devolving  powers  of  such  magnitude  on 
any  private  individual,  and  its  utter  incompatibility 
with  public  order,  that  she  prevailed  on  them,  smart- 
ing, as  they  were,  under  the  evils  of  a  disputed  suc- 
cession, to  solicit  the  administration  for  the  king,  her 
husband.  That  monarch,  indeed,  consented  to  waive 
this  privilege  in  favor  of  Alonso  de  Cardenas,  one  of 
the  competitors  for  the  office,  and  a  loyal  servant  of  the 
crown;  but,  at  his  decease  in  1499,  the  sovereigns 
retained  the  possession  of  the  vacant  mastership,  con- 

♦>  Rades  y  Andrada,  Las  tres  Ordenes,  part,  i,  fol.  12-15, 43.  54. 61. 
64,  66,  67;  part.  2,  fol.  II,  si;  part.  3,  fol.  42,  49,  50.— Caro  de 
Torres,  Ordenes  militares,  passim. — L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables, 
fol.  33. — Garibay,  Compendio,  lib.  11,  cap.  13. — Ziirita,  Anales,  torn. 
V.  lib.  I,  cap.  19. — Oviedo,  Quincuagenas,  MS.,  bat.  i,  quinc.  a,  dial.  i. 


y 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


313 


formably  to  a  papal  decree,  which  granted  them  its 
administration  for  life,  in  the  same  manner  as  had 
been  done  with  that  of  Calatrava  in  1487,  and  of  Alcan- 
tara in  1494.*' 

The  sovereigns  were  no  sooner  vested  with  the  con- 
trol of  the  military  orders  than  they  began,  with  their 
characteristic  promptness,  to  reform  the  various  cor- 
ruptions which  had  impaired  their  ancient  discipline. 
They  erected  a  council  for  the  general  superintendence 
of  affairs  relating  to  the  orders,  and  invested  it  with 
extensive  powers  both  of  civil  and  criminal  jurisdic- 
tion. They  supplied  the  vacant  benefices  with  persons 
of  acknowledged  worth,  exercising  an  impartiality  which 
could  never  be  maintained  by  any  private  individual, 
necessarily  exposed  to  the  influence  of  personal  interests 
and  affections.  By  this  harmonious  distribution,  the 
honors  which  had  before  been  held  up  to  the  highest 
bidder,  or  made  the  subject  of  a  furious  canvass,  be- 
came the  incentive  and  sure  recompense  of  desert.** 

In  the  following  reign,  the  grand-masterships  of  these 
fraternities  were  annexed  in  perpetuity  to  the  crown  of 
Castile  by  a  bull  of  Pope  Adrian  the  Sixth;  while  their 
subordinate  dignities,  having  survived  the  object  of 

4»  Caro  de  Torres,  Ordenes  militares,  fol.  46,  74,  83. — Pulgar,  Reyes 
Cat61icos,  part.  2,  cap.  64. — Rades  y  Andrada,  Las  trps  Ordenes,  part. 
I,  fol.  69,  70;  part.  2,  fol.  82,  83;  part.  3,  fol.  54. — Oviedo,  Quincua- 
genas,  MS.,  bat.  i,  quinc.  2,  dial.  i. — The  sovereigns  gave  great  offence 
to  the  jealous  grandees  who  were  competitors  for  the  mastership  of  St. 
James,  by  conferring  that  dignity  on  Alonso  de  Cardenas,  with  their 
usual  policy  of  making  merit  rather  than  birth  the  standard  of  prefer- 
ment. 

*»  Caro  de  Torres,  Ordenes  militares,  fol.  84. — Riol  has  given  a  full 
account  of  the  constitution  of  this  council,  Informe,  apud  Semanario 
erudito,  torn.  iii.  pp.  164  et  seq. 

o 


y 


3M 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


their  original  creation,  the  subjugation  of  the  Moors, 
degenerated  into  the  empty  decorations,  the  stars  and 
garters,  of  an  order  of  nobility.*' 

IV.  Vindication  of  ecclesiastical  rights  belonging  to 
the  crown  from  papal  usurpation.  In  the  earlier  stages 
of  the  Castilian  monarchy,  the  sovereigns  appear  to 
have  held  a  supremacy  in  spiritual,  very  similar  to  that 
exercised  by  them  in  temporal  matters.  It  was  com- 
paratively late  that  the  nation  submitted  its  neck  to 
the  papal  yoke,  so  closely  riveted  at  a  subsequent 
period ;  and  even  the  Romish  ritual  was  not  admitted 
into  its  churches  till  long  after  it  had  been  adopted  in 
the  rest  of  Europe.^  But,  when  the  code  of  the  Par- 
tidas  was  promulgated  in  the  thirteenth  century,  the 
maxims  of  the  canon  law  came  to  be  permanently 
established.  The  ecclesiastical  encroached  on  the  lay 
tribunals.  Appeals  were  perpetually  carried  up  to  the 
Roman  court ;  and  the  popes,  pretending  to  regulate 
the  minutest  details  of  church  economy,  not  only  dis- 
posed of  inferior  benefices,  but  gradually  converted  the 


43  The  reader  will  find  a  view  of  the  condition  and  general  resources 
of  the  military  orders  as  existing  in  the  present  century  in  Spain,  in 
Laborde,  Itin^raire  descriptif  de  I'Espagne  (2d  edition,  Paris,  1827-30), 
torn.  V.  pp.  102-117. 

44  Most  readers  are  acquainted  with  the  curious  story,  related  by 
Robertson,  of  the  ordeal  to  which  the  Romish  and  Muzarabic  rituals 
were  subjected,  in  the  reign  of  Alfonso  VI.,  and  the  ascendency  which 
the  combination  of  kingcraft  and  priestcraft  succeeded  in  securing  to 
the  former  in  opposition  to  the  will  of  the  nation.  Cardinal  Ximenes 
afterwards  established  a  magnificent  chapel  in  the  cathedral  church 
of  Toledo  for  the  performance  of  the  Muzarabic  services,  which  have 
been  retained  there  to  the  present  time.  Fl^chier,  Histoire  du  Car- 
dinal Ximin&s  (Paris,  1693),  p.  142. — Bourgoanne,  Travels  in  Spain, 
Eng.  trans.,  vol.  iii.  chap.  z. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


Z^% 


right  of  confirming  elections  to  the  episcopal  and  higher 
ecclesiastical  dignities,  into  that  of  appointment.*' 

These  usurpations  of  the  church  had  been  repeatedly 
the  subject  of  grave  remonstrance  in  cortes.  Several 
remedial  enactments  had  passed  that  body  during  the 
present  reign,  especially  in  relation  to  the  papal  pro- 
vision of  foreigners  to  benefices;  an  evil  of  much 
greater  magnitude  in  Spain  than  in  other  countries  of 
Europe,  since  the  episcopal  demesnes,  frequently  cover- 
ing the  Moorish  frontier,  became  an  important  line  of 
national  defence,  obviously  improper  to  be  intrusted 
to  the  keeping  of  foreigners  and  absentees.  Notwith- 
standing the  efforts  of  cortes,  no  effectual  remedy  was 
devised  for  this  latter  grievance,  until  it  became  the 
subject  of  actual  collision  between  the  crown  and  the 
pontiff,  in  reference  to  the  see  of  Tara^ona,  and  after- 
wards of  Cuenca.** 

Sixtus  the  Fourth  had  conferred  the  latter  benefice, 
on  its  becoming  vacant  in  1482,  on  his  nephew,  Car- 
dinal San  Giorgio,  a  Genoese,  in  direct  opposition  to 
tht  wishes  of  the  queen,  who  would  have  bestowed  it 
on  her  chaplain,  Alfonso  de  Burgos,  in  exchange  for 
the  bishopric  of  Cordova.  An  ambassador  was  accord- 
ingly despatched  by  the  Castilian  sovereigns  to  Rome, 
to  remonstrate  on  the  papal  appointment ;  but  without 

«  Marina,  Ensayo  hist6rico-:critico,  nos.  322,  334,  341.— Riol,  In- 
fonne,  apud  Semanario  erudito,  pp.  92  et  seq. 

46  Marina,  Ensayo  historico-critico,  nos.  335-337. — Ordenan9as 
Reales,  lib.  i,  tit.  3,  leyes  19,  20;  lib.  2,  tit.  7,  ley  2;  lib.  3,  tit.  i,  ley 
6. — Riol,  Informe,  apud  Semanario  erudito,  loc.  cit. — In  the  latter  part 
of  Henry  IV.'s  reign,  a  papal  bull  had  been  granted  against  the  pro- 
vision of  foreigners  to  benefices.  Mariana,  Hist,  de  Espaiia,  torn.  vii. 
p.  196,  ed.  Valencia. 


3i6 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


V' 


I  I..I 


Jill  ■' 
III    ! 


(ii 

1 

1  . 
|: 

:  i! 

!  1 

l{ 

■.1  i 

J 

t 

effect,  as  Sixtus  replied,  with  a  degree  of  presumption 
which  might  better  have  become  his  predecessors  of  the 
twelfth  century,  that  **  he  was  head  of  the  church,  and, 
as  such,  possessed  of  unlimited  power  in  the  distribu- 
tion of  benefices,  and  that  he  was  not  bound  to  consult 
the  inclination  of  any  potentate  on  earth,  any  further 
than  might  subserve  the  interests  of  religion." 

The  sovereigns,  highly  dissatisfied  with  this  response, 
ordered  their  subjects,  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  lay,  to 
quit  the  papal  dominions;  an  injunction  which  the 
former,  fearful  of  the  sequestration  of  their  temporali- 
ties in  Castile,  obeyed  with  as  much  promptness  as  the 
latter.  At  the  same  time,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  pro- 
claimed their  intention  of  inviting  the  princes  of  Chris- 
tendom to  unite  with  them  in  convoking  a  general 
council  for  the  reformation  of  the  manifold  abuses 
which  dishonored  the  church.  No  sound  could  have 
grated  more  unpleasantly  on  the  pontifical  ear  than  the 
menace  of  a  general  council,  particularly  at  this  period, 
when  ecclesiastical  corruptions  had  reached  a  height 
which  could  but  ill  endure  its  scrutiny.  The  pope  be- 
came convinced  that  he  had  ventured  too  far,  and  that 
Henry  the  Fourth  was  no  longer  monarch  of  Castile. 
He  accordingly  despatched  a  legate  to  Spain,  fully  em- 
powered to  arrange  the  matter  on  an  amicable  basis. 

The  legate,  who  was  a  layman,  by  name  Domingo 
Centurion,  no  sooner  arrived  in  Castile  than  he  caused 
the  sovereigns  to  be  informed  of  his  presence  there,  and 
the  purpose  of  his  mission ;  but  he  received  orders  in- 
stantly to  quit  the  kingdom,  without  attempting  so 
much  as  to  disclose  the  nature  of  his  instructions,  since 
they  could  not  but  be  derogatory  to  the  dignity  of  the 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


3»7 


crown.  A  safe-conduct  was  granted  for  himself  and 
his  suite ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  great  surprise  was  ex- 
pressed that  any  one  should  venture  to  appear,  as  envoy 
from  his  Holiness,  at  the  court  of  Castile,  after  it  had 
been  treated  by  him  with  such  unmerited  indignity. 

Far  from  resenting  this  ungracious  reception,  the 
legate  affected  the  deepest  humility,  professing  himself 
willing  to  waive  whatever  immunities  he  might  claim  as 
papal  ambassador,  and  to  submit  to  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  sovereigns  as  one  of  their  own  subjects,  so  that  he 
might  obtain  an  audience.  Cardinal  Mendoza,  whose 
influence  in  the  cabinet  had  gained  him  the  title  of 
"third  king  of  Spain,"  apprehensive  of  the  conse- 
quences of  a  protracted  rupture  with  the  church,  inter- 
posed in  behalf  of  the  envoy,  whose  conciliatory  de- 
portment at  length  so  far  mitigated  the  resentment  of 
the  sovereigns  that  they  consented  to  open  negotiations 
with  the  court  of  Rome.  The  result  was  the  publica- 
tion of  a  bull  by  Sixtus  the  Fourth,  in  which  his  Holi- 
ness engaged  to  provide  such  natives  to  the  higher  dig- 
nities of  the  church  in  Castile  as  should  be  nominated 
by  the  monarchs  of  that  kingdom  ;*'  and  Alfonso  de 
Burgos  was  accordingly  translated  to  the  see  of  Cuenca. 
Isabella,  on  whom  the  duties  of  ecclesiastical  prefer- 
ment devolved  by  the  act  of  settlement,  availed  herself 
of  the  rights  thus  wrested  from  the  grasp  of  Rome,  to 
exalt  to  the  vacant  sees  persons  of  exemplary  piety  and 
learning,  holding  light,  in  comparison  with  the  faith- 
ful discharge  of  this  duty,  every  minor  consideration 

47  Riol,  in  his  account  of  this  celebrated  concordat,  refers  to  the 
original  instrument,  as  existing  in  his  time  in  the  archives  of  Siraajicas, 
Seroanario  erudito,  torn.  iii.  p.  95. 


3'8 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


1  'I 

'I 

\\ 

•!  'I 

■IS 
i:S :; 


.1  ii 


\  I  :i » 


r 
|! 


of  interest,  and  even  the  solicitations  of  her  husband, 
as  we  shall  see  hereafter.^  And  the  chronicler  of  her 
reign  dwells  with  complacency  on  those  good  old  times, 
when  churchmen  were  to  be  found  of  such  singular 
modesty  as  to  require  to  be  urged  to  accept  the  digni- 
ties to  which  their  merits  entitled  them/' 

V.  The  regulation  of  trade.  It  will  be  readily  con- 
ceived that  trade,  agriculture,  and  every  branch  of 
industry  must  have  languished  under  the  misrule  of 
preceding  reigns.  For  what  purpose,  indeed,  strive  to 
accumulate  we-ulth,  when  it  would  only  serve  to  sharpen 
the  appetite  of  the  spoiler  ?  For  what  purpose  cultivate 
the  earth,  when  the  fruits  were  sure  to  be  swept  away, 
even  before  harvest  time,  in  some  ruthless  foray? 
The  frequent  famines  and  pestilences,  which  occurred 
in  the  latter  part  of  Henry's  reign  and  the  com- 
mencement of  his  successor's,  show  too  plainly  the 
squalid  condition  of  the  people,  and  their  utter  desti- 
tution of  all  useful  arts.  We  are  assured  by  the  Cu- 
rate of  Los  Palacios  that  the  plague  broke  out  in  the 
southern  districts  of  the  kingdom,  carrying  off  eight,  or 

48  "  Lo  que  es  publico  hoy  en  Espana  h  notorio,"  says  Gonzalo  de 
Oviedo,  "  nunca  los  Reyes  Catholicos  desearon  ni  procuraron  sino 
que  proveer  e  presentar  paia  las  dignidades  de  la  Iglesia  hombres 
capazes  e  idoneos  para  la  buena  administracion  del  servicio  del  culto 
divlno,  e  d  la  buena  ensenanza  e  utilidad  de  los  Christianos  sus  vasa- 
llos ;  y  entre  todos  los  varones  de  sus  Reynos  asi  per  largo  conosci- 
miento  como  por  larga  e  secreta  informacion  acordaron  encojer  e 
elegir,"  etc.    Quincuagenas,  MS.,  dial,  de  Talavera. 

«  Salazar  de  Mendoza,  Cr6n.  del  Gran  Cardenal,  lib.  i,  cap.  52.— 
Idem,  Dignidades  de  Castilla,  p.  374. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  part. 
2,  cap.  104. — See  also  the  similar  independent  conduct  pursued  by 
Ferdinand,  three  years  previous,  with  reference  to  the  see  of  Tara- 
9ona,  related  by  Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  304. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


319 


nine,  or  even  fifteen  thousand  inhabitants  from  the  va- 
rious cities ;  while  the  prices  of  the  ordinary  aliments 
of  life  rose  to  a  height  which  put  them  above  the  reach 
of  the  poorer  classes  of  the  community.  In  addition 
to  these  physical  evils,  a  fatal  shock  was  given  to  com- 
mercial credit  by  the  adulteration  of  the  coin.  Under 
Henry  the  Fourth,  it  is  computed  that  there  were  no 
less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  mmts  openly  licensed 
by  the  crown,  in  addition  to  many  others  erected  by 
individuals  without  any  legal  authority.  The  abuse 
came  to  such  a  height  that  people  at  length  refused  to 
receive  in  payment  of  their  debts  the  debased  coin, 
whose  value  depreciated  more  and  more  every  day;  and 
the  little  trade  which  remained  in  Castile  was  carried  on 
by  barter,  as  in  the  primitive  stages  of  society. 5° 

The  magnitude  of  the  evil  was  such  as  to  claim  the 
earliest  attention  of  the  cortes  under  the  new  monarchs. 
Acts  were  passed  fixing  the  standard  and  legal  value  of 
the  different  denominations  of  coin.  A  new  coinage 
was  subsequently  made.  Five  royal  mints  were  alone 
authorized,  afterwards  augmented  to  seven,  and  severe 
penalties  denounced  against  the  fabrication  of  money 
elsewhere.  The  reform  of  the  currency  gradually  in- 
fused new  life  into  commerce,  as  die  return  of  the 
circulations,  which  have  been  interrupted  for  a  while, 
quickens  the  animal  body.  This  was  furthered  by  salu- 
tary laws  for  the  encouragement  of  domestic  industry. 
Internal  communication  was  facilitated  by  the  construe- 
so  Bernaldez,  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS.,  cap.  44. — See  a  letter  from  one 
of  Henry's  subjects,  cited  by  Saez,  Monedas  de  Enrique  IV.,  p.  3. — 
Also  the  coarse  satire  (composed  in  Henry's  reign)  of  Mingo  Revulgo, 
rspecially  coplas  24-27. 


■ 

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1 

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, 

s '  ' 

' 

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f  1 

\       ' 

1 

f 

ll 

' 

ffl 

320 


ADMINISTRATIOA^  OF  CASTILE. 


1  I' 
'  'I 


11  \ 


iji 


I  |,ii  <' 


t.i 


„,i  «| 


tion  of  roads  and  bridges.  Absurd  restrictions  on 
change  of  residence,  as  well  as  the  onerous  duties 
which  had  been  imposed  on  commercial  intercourse 
between  Castile  and  Aragon,  were  repealed.  Several 
judicious  laws  were  enacted  for  the  protection  of  for- 
eign trade ;  and  the  flourishing  condition  of  the  mer- 
cantile marine  may  be  inferred  from  that  of  the  military, 
which  enabled  the  sovereigns  to  fit  out  an  armament  of 
seventy  sail  in  1482,  from  the  ports  of  Biscay  and  An- 
dalusia, for  the  defence  of  Naples  against  the  Turks. 
Some  of  their  regulations,  indeed,  as  those  prohibit- 
ing the  exportation  of  the  precious  metals,  savor  too 
strongly  of  the  ignorance  of  the  true  principles  of  com- 
mercial legislation  which  has  distinguished  the  Span- 
iards to  the  present  day.  But  others,  again,  as  that 
for  relieving  the  importation  of  foreign  books  from  all 
duties,  "because,"  -^ays  the  statute,  "they  bring  both 
honor  and  profit  to  the  kingdom,  by  the  facilities  which 
they  afford  for  making  men  learned,"  are  not  only  in 
advance  of  that  age,  but  may  sustain  an  advantageous 
comparison  with  provisions  on  corresponding  subjects 
in  Spain  at  the  present  time.  Public  credit  was  re- 
established by  the  punctuality  with  which  the  govern- 
ment redeemed  the  debt  contracted  during  the  Portu- 
guese war;  and,  notwithstanding  the  repeal  of  various 
arbitrary  imposts,  which  enriched  the  exchequer  under 
Henry  the  Fourth,  such  was  the  advance  of  the  couiitry 
under  the  wise  economy  of  the  present  reign,  ihat  the 
revenue  was  augmented  nearly  sixfold  between  the 
years  1477  and  1482.5' 

S»  Pragmdticas  del  Reyno,  fol.  64. — Ordenan9us  Reales,  lib.  4,  tit.  4, 
ley  22 ;  lib.  5,  tit.  8,  ley  2 ;  lib.  6,  tit.  9,  ley  49 ;  lib.  6,  tit.  10,  ley  13. — 


M 
s 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


321 


Thus  released  from  the  heavy  burdens  imposed  on  it, 
the  spring  of  enterprise  recovered  its  former  elasticity. 
The  productive  capital  of  the  country  was  made  to  flow 
through  the  various  channels  of  domestic  industry. 
The  hills  and  the  valleys  again  rejoiced  in  the  labor 
of  the  husbandman  ;  and  the  cities  were  embellished 
with  stately  edifices,  both  public  and  private,  which 
attracted  the  gaze  and  commendation  6{  foreigners. ^^ 
The  writers  of  that  day  are  unbounded  in  their  plaudits 
of  Isabella,  to  whom  they  principally  ascribe  this  auspi- 
cious revolution  in  the  condition  of  the  country  and  its 
inhabitants,"  which  seems  almost  as  magical  as  one  of 

Col.  de  Cedulas,  torn.  v.  no.  182. — See  also  other  wholesome  laws  for 
the  encouragement  of  commerce  and  general  security  of  property,  as 
that  respecting  contracts  (Ordenan9as  Reales,  lib.  5,  tit.  8,  ley  5), — 
fraudulent  tradesmen  (lib.  5,  tit.  8,  ley  5), — purveyance  (lib.  6,  tit.  n, 
ley  2  et  al.). — Recopilacion  de  las  Leyes,  lib.  5,  tit.  20,  21,  22 ;  lib.  6, 
tit.  18,  ley  I. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  part.  2,  cap.  99. — Zurita,  Ana- 
les,  torn.  iv.  fol.  312. — Mem.  de  la  Acad,  de  Hist.,  tom.  vi  Ilust.  11. 
— The  revenue,  it  appears,  in  1477,  amounted  tr  2  ^415,228  marave- 
dis;  and  in  the  year  1482,  we  find  it  increased  to  r-.  ,695,288  marave- 
dis.  (Ibid.,  Ilust.  5.) — A  survey  of  the  kingdom  v  :  i  inail-.  between 
the  years  1477  and  1479,  for  the  purpose  «.f  ascer  .liiuig  the  v?lue  of 
the  royal  rents,  which  formed  the  basis  of  the  eocnromioal  r's,\.,;adons 
adopted  by  the  cortes  of  Toledo.  Although  C:\\:  'ur.ey  was  o  inducted 
on  no  uniform  plan,  yet,  according  to  Seiir,;  Clemencin,  it  exhibits 
such  a  variety  of  important  details  respe.ting  the  r  Tif. urces  and  popu- 
lation of  the  country  that  it  must  materially  contribatc  towards  an  exact 
history  of  this  period.  The  compilation,  which  consists  of  twelve  folio 
volumes  in  manuscript,  is  deposited  in  the  archivi^s  of  Simancas. 

52  One  of  the  statutes  passed  at  Toledo  t.vprossly  provides  for  the 
erection  of  spacious  and  handsome  edifices  (casus  grandes y  bien  fe- 
chas)  for  the  transaction  of  municipal  affairs,  in  all  the  prinrip-'  towns 
and  cities  in  the  kingdom.  Ordenan9as  Reales  lib.  7,  tit.  ; .  ;y  i. — 
See  also  L.  Marineo,  Cosas  meraorables,  passim, — e  al.  auct. 

53  "Cosa  fue  por  cierto  maravillosa,"  exclaims  Puigar,  in  hi^  Glosa 
Vol.  1.— 21  o* 


I 


322 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


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iii 


those  transformations  in  romance  wrought  by  the  hands 
of  some  benevolent  fairy. s* 

VI.  The  pre-eminence  of  the  royal  authority.  This, 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  appears  to  have  been  the  natu- 
ral result  of  the  policy  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  was 
derived  quite  as  much  from  the  influence  of  their  pri- 
vate characters  as  from  their  public  measures.  Their 
acknowledged  talents  were  supported  by  a  dignified 
demeanor,  which  formed  a  striking  contrast  with  the 
meanness  in  mind  and  manners  that  had  distinguished 
their  predecessor  They  both  exhibited  a  practical 
wisdom  in  their  own  personal  relations,  which  always 
commands  respect,  and  which,  however  it  may  have 
savored  of  worldly  policy  in  Ferdinand,  was,  in  his 
consort,  founded  on  the  purest  and  most  exalted  prin- 
ciple. Under  such  a  sovereign,  the  court,  which  had 
been  little  better  than  a  brothel  under  the  preceding 
reign,  became  the  nursery  of  virtue  and  generous  am- 
bition. Isabella  watched  assiduously  over  the  nurture 
of  the  high-born  damsels  of  her  court,  whom  she  re- 
ceived into  the  royal  palace,  causing  them  to  be  edu- 
cated under  her  own  eye,  and  endowing  them  with 
liberal   portions  on   their   marrii^ge.^^     By  these   and 


on   the   Mingo   Revulgo,  "que   lo  que   muchos  hombres  y  grandes 
senores  no  se  acordaron  d  hacer  en  muchos  afios,  sola  una  muger, 
con  su  trabajo  y  gobernacion,  lo  hizo  en  poco  tiempo."     Copla  2i. 
54  The  beautiful  lines  of  Virgil,  so  often  misapplied, — 

"  Jam  redit  et  Virgo  ;  redeunt  Saturnia  regiia  ; 
Jam  nova  progenies,"  etc. — 

seem  to  admit  here  of  a  pertinent  application. 

ss  Cairo  de  las  Donas,  apud  Mem.  de  la  Acad,  de  Hist.,  torn.  vi. 
Ilust.  21. — As  one  example  of  the  moral  discipline  introduced  by  Isa- 
bella in  her  court,  we  may  cite  the  enactments  against  gaming,  which 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


m 


• 


similar  acts  of  affectionate  solicitude,  she  endeared  her- 
self to  the  higher  classes  of  her  subjects,  while  the  pa- 
triotic tendency  of  her  public  conduct  established  her 
in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  She  possessed,  in  combi- 
nation with  the  feminine  qualities  which  beget  love,  a 
masculine  energy  of  character,  which  struck  terror  into 
the  guilty.  She  enforced  the  execution  of  her  own 
plans,  oftentimes  even  at  great  personal  hazard,  with  a 
resolution  surpassing  that  of  her  husband.  Both  were 
singularly  temperate,  indeed  frugal,  in  their  dress, 
equipage,  and  general  style  of  living ;  seeking  to  affect 
others  less  by  external  pomp  than  by  the  silent  though 
more  potent  influence  of  personal  qualities.  On  all 
such  occasions  as  demanded  it,  however,  they  displayed 
a  princely  magnificence,  which  dazzled  the  multitude, 
and  is  blazoned  with  great  solemnity  in  the  garrulous 
chronicles  of  the  day.s* 

The  tendencies  of  the  present  administration  were 
undoubtedly  to  strengthen  the  power  of  the  crown. 
This  was  the  point  to  which  most  of  the  feudal  govern- 
ments of  Europe  at  this  epoch  were  tending.  But  Isa- 
bella was  far  from  being  actuated  by  the  selfish  aim  or 
unscrupulous  policy  of  many  contemporary  princes, 
who,  like  Louis  the  Eleventh,  sought  to  govern  by  the 
arts  of  dissimulation,  and  to  establish  their  own  au- 

had  been  carried  to  great  excess  under  the  preceding  reigns.  (See  Or- 
denan9as  Reales,  lib.  2,  tit.  14,  ley  31 ;  lib.  8,  tit.  10,  ley  7.)  L.  Mari- 
neo,  according  to  whom  "  hell  is  full  of  gamblers,"  highly  commends 
the  sovereigns  for  their  efforts  to  discountenance  this  vice.  Cosas 
memorables,  fol.  165. 

S6  See,  for  example,  the  splendid  ceremony  of  Prince  John's  baptism, 
to  which  the  gossiping  Curate  of  Los  Talacios  devotes  the  32d  and 
33d  chapters  of  his  History, 


'i'' 


ri 


ri 


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I 


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11 


1 1 


324 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CASTILE. 


thority  by  fomenting  the  divisions  of  their  powerful 
vassals.  On  the  contrary,  she  endeavored  to  bind  to- 
gether the  disjointed  fragments  of  the  state,  to  assign  to 
each  of  its  great  divisions  its  constitutional  limits,  and, 
by  depressing  the  aristocracy  to  its  proper  level  and 
elevating  the  commons,  to  consolidate  the  whole  imder 
the  lawful  supremacy  of  the  crown.  At  least,  tuch  was 
the  tendency  of  her  administration  up  to  the  present 
period  of  our  history.  These  laudabK;  objects  were 
gradually  achieved,  without  fraud  or  violence,  by  a 
course  of  measures  equally  laudable ;  and  the  various 
orders  of  the  monarchy,  brought  into  harmonious  ac- 
tion with  each  other,  were  enabled  to  turn  the  forces 
which  had  before  been  wasted  in  civil  conflict  to  the 
glorious  career  of  discovery  and  conquest  which  it  was 
destined  to  run  during  the  remainder  of  the  century. 


1|'    ; ! 


The  sixth  volume  of  the  Memoirs  of  the  Royail  Spanish  Academy  of 
History,  published  in  1821,  is  devoted  altogether  to  the  reign  of  Isa- 
bella. It  is  distributed  into  Illustrations,  as  they  are  termed,  of  the 
various  bfanches  of  the  administrative  policy  of  the  queen,  of  her  per- 
sonal character,  and  of  the  condition  of  science  under  her  government. 
Thp-e  essays  exhibit  much  curious  research,  being  derived  from  un- 
q  .'astionable  contemporary  documents,  printed  and  manuscript,  and 
from  the  public  archives.  They  are  compiled  with  much  discernment, 
and,  as  they  throw  Lgl.t  on  -ome  of  the  most  recondite  transactions  of 
this  reign,  are  of  inesti»nable  service  t"  the  historian.  The  author  of 
the  volume  is  the  la'^  Jamented  secretur,-  of  the  Academy,  Don  Diego 
Clemencin ;  one  cf  th'^  few  who  survived  the  wreck  of  scholarship  in 
Spain,  and  who,  with  the  erudition  which  has  frequently  distinguished 
his  countrymen,  combined  the  liberal  and  enlarged  opinions  which 
would  do  honor  to  any  country. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  MODERN   INQUISITION. 

Origin  of  the  Ancient  Inquisition. — Retrospective  View  of  the  Jews  in 
Spain. — Their  Wealth  and  Civilization. — Bigotry  of  the  Age. — Its 
Influence  on  Isabella. — Her  Confessor,  Torquemada. — Bull  author- 
izing the  Inquisition. — Tribunal  at  Seville. — Forms  of  Trial. — 
Torture. — ^Autos  da  Fe. — Number  of  Convictions. — Pji  fidious  Policy 
of  Rome. 

It  is  painful,  after  having  dwelt  so  long  on  the  im- 
portant benefits  resulting  to  Castile  from  the  compre- 
hensive policy  of  Isabella,  to  be  compelled  to  turn  to 
the  darker  side  of  the  picture,  and  to  exhibit  vher  as 
accommodating  herself  to  the  illiberal  spirit  of  the  age 
in  which  she  lived,  so  far  as  to  sanction  one  of  the 
grossest  abiises  that  ever  disgraced  humanity.  The 
present  chapter  will  be  devoted  to  the  establishment 
and  early  progress  of  the  Modern  Inquisition  ;  an  insti- 
tution which  has  probably  contributed  more  than  any 
other  cause  to  depress  the  lofty  character  of  the  ancient 
Spaniard,  and  which  has  thrown  the  gloom  of  fanaticism 
over  those  lovely  regions  which  seem  to  be  the  natural 
abode  of  festivity  and  pleasure. 

In  the  present  liberal  state  of  knowledge,  we  look 
with  disgust  at  the  pretensions  of  any  human  being, 
however  exalted,  to  invade  the  sacred  rights  of  con- 
science, inalienably  possessed  by  every  man.     We  feel 

(325) 


*•  &1 


326 


THE  INQUISITION. 


f4 


that  the  spiritual  concerns  of  an  individual  may  be 
safely  left  to  himself,  as  most  interested  in  them,  except 
so  far  as  they  can  be  affected  by  argument  or  friendly 
monition ;  that  the  idea  of  compelling  belief  in  par- 
ticular doctrines  is  a  solecism,  as  absurd  as  wicked ; 
and,  so  far  from  condemning  to  the  stake,  or  the  gibbet, 
men  who  pertinaciously  adhere  to  their  conscientious 
opinions  in  contempt  of  personal  interests  and  in  the 
face  of  danger,  we  should  rather  feel  disposed  to  imi- 
tate the  spirit  of  antiquity  in  raising  altars  and  statues 
to  their  memory,  as  having  displayed  the  highest  efforts 
of  human  virtue.  But,  although  these  truths  are  now  so 
obvious  as  rather  to  deserve  the  name  of  truisms,  the 
world  has  been  slow,  very  slow,  in  arriving  at  them, 
after  many  centuries  of  unspeakable  oppression  and 
misery. 

Acts  of  intolerance  are  to  be  discerned  from  the 
earliest  period  in  which  Christianity  became  the  estab- 
lished religion  of  the  Roman  empire.  But  they  do 
not  seem  to  have  flowed  from  any  systematized  plan 
of  persecution,  until  the  papal  authority  had  swollen  to 
a  considerable  height.  The  popes,  who  claimed  the 
spiritual  allegiance  of  all  Christendom,  regarded  heresy 
as  treason  against  themselves,  and,  as  such,  deserving 
all  the  penalties  which  sovereigns  have  uniformly  visited 
on  this,  in  their  eyes,  unpardonable  offence.  The 
crusades  which,  in  the  early  part  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  swept  so  fiercely  over  the  southern  provinces 
of  France,  exterminating  their  inhabitants,  and  blast- 
ing the  fair  buds  of  civilization  which  had  put  forth 
after  the  long  feudal  winter,  opened  the  way  to  the 
Inquisition  ;  and  it  was  on  the  ruins  of  this  once  happy 


THE  INQUISITION. 


.^27 


land  that  were  first  erected  the  bloody  altars  of  that 
tribunal.* 

After  various  modifications,  the  province  of  detect- 
ing and  punishing  heresy  was  exclusively  committed  to 
the  hands  of  the  Dominican  friars ;  and  in  1 233,  in  the 
reign  of  St.  Louis,  and  under  the  pontificate  of  Gregory 
the  Ninth,  a  code  for  the  regulation  of  their  proceed- 
ings was  finally  digested.  The  tribunal,  after  having 
been  successively  adopted  in  Italy  and  Germany,  was 
introduced  into  Aragon,  where,  in  124a,  additional 
provisions  were  framed  by  the  council  of  Tarragona, 

I  Mosheim,  Ecclesiastical  History,  translated  by  Maclaine  (Charlc^- 
town,  i8io),  cent.  13,  P.  2,  chap.  5. — Sismoisdi,  Histoire  des  Fran9ais 
(Paris,  1821),  torn.  vi.  chap.  24-28;  torn.  vii.  chap.  2,  3. — Idem,  De  la 
Litterature  du  Midi  de  I'Europe  (Paris,  1813),  torn.  i.  chap.  6. — In  the 
former  of  these  works  M.  Sismondi  has  described  the  physical  ravages 
of  the  crusades  in  southern  France,  with  the  same  spirit  and  eloquence 
with  which  he  has  exhibited  their  desolating  moral  influence  in  the 
latter.  Some  Catholic  writers  would  fain  excuse  St.  Dominic  from  the 
imputation  of  having  founded  the  Inquisition.  It  is  true  he  died  some 
years  before  the  perfect  organization  of  that  tribunal ;  but,  as  he  estab- 
lished the  principles  on  which,  and  the  monkish  militia  by  whom,  it 
was  administered,  it  is  doing  him  no  injustice  to  regard  him  as  its  real 
author. — The  Sicilian  Paramo,  indeed,  in  his  heavy  quarto  (De  Origine 
et  Progressu  Officii  Sanctae  Inquisitionis,  Matriti,  1598),  traces  it  up  to 
a  much  more  remote  antiquity,  which,  to  a  Protestant  ear  at  least, 
savors  not  a  little  erf  blasphemy.  According  to  him,  God  was  the  first 
inquisitor,  and  his  condemnation  of  Adam  and  Eve  furnished  the  model 
of  the  judicial  forms  observed  in  the  trials  of  the  Holy  Office.  The 
sentence  of  Adam  was  the  type  of  the  inquisitorial  reconciliation  ;  his 
subsequent  raiment  of  the  skins  of  animals  was  the  model  c  f  the  san- 
benito,  and  his  expulsion  from  Paradise  the  precedent  for  the  confisca- 
tion of  the  goods  of  heretical.  This  learned  personage  deduces  a  suc- 
cession of  inquisitors  through  the  patriarchs,  Moses,  Nebuchadnezzar, 
and  King  David,  down  to  John  the  Baptist,  and  even  our  Saviour,  in 
whose  precepts  and  conduct  he  finds  abundant  authority  for  the  tri- 
bunal!    Paramo,  De  Origine  Inquisitionis,  lib.  i,  tit.  i,  2,  3. 


328 


THE   INQUISITION. 


on  the  basis  of  those  of  1233,  which  may  pf  perly  be 
considered  as  the  primitive  instructions  of  tiie  Holy 
Office  in  Spain." 

This  Ancient  Inquisition,  as  it  is  termed,  bore  the  same 
odious  peculiarities  in  its  leading  features  as  the  Modern ; 
the  same  impenetrable  secrecy  in  its  proceedings,  the 
same  insidious  modes  of  accusation,  a  similar  use  of 
torture,  and  similar  penalties  for  the  offender.  A  sort 
of  manual,  drawn  "p  by  Eymerich,  an  Aragonese  in- 
quisitor of  the  fouireenth  century,  for  the  instruction 
of  the  judges  of  the  Holy  Office,  prescribes  all  those 
ambiguous  forms  of  interrogation  by  which  the  unwary 
and  perhaps  innocent  victim  might  be  circumvented.' 

»  Sismondi,  Hist,  des  Fran9ais,  torn.  vii.  chap.  3. — Limborch,  History 
of  the  Inquisition,  translated  by  Chandler  (London,  1731 ),  book  i,  chap. 
24. — Llorente,  Histoire  critique  de  I'lnquisition  d'Espagne  (Paris, 
i8i8),  torn.  i.  p.  no. — Before  this  time  we  find  a  constitution  of  Peter 
I.  of  Arar  on  against  heretics,  prescribing  in  certain  cases  the  burning 
of  heretics  and  the  confiscation  of  their  estates,  in  1197.  Marca  His- 
panica,  sive  I^imes  Hispanicus  (Parisiis,  1688),  p.  1384. 

3  Nic.  Antonio,  Bibliotheca  Vetus,  torn.  ii.  p.  186. — Llorente,  Hist, 
de  I'lnquisition,  torn.  i.  pp.  110-124. — Puigblanch  cites  some  of  the  in- 
structions from  Eymerich 's  work,  whose  authority  in  the  courts  of  the 
Inquisition  he  compares  to  that  of  Gratian's  Decretals  in  other  eccle- 
siastical judicatures.  One  of  these  may  suffice  to  show  the  spirit  of  the 
whole.  "  When  the  inquisitor  has  an  opportunity,  he  shall  manage  so 
as  to  introduce  to  the  conversation  of  the  prisoner  some  one  of  his  ac- 
complices, C/r  any  other  converted  heretic,  who  shall  feign  that  he  still 
persists  in  his  heresy,  telling  him  that  he  had  abjured  for  the  sole  pur- 
pose of  escaping  punishment,  by  deceiving  the  inquisitors.  Having 
thus  gained  his  confidence,  he  shall  go  into  his  cell  some  day  after 
dinner,  and,  keeping  up  the  conversation  till  night,  shall  remain  with 
him  under  pretext  of  its  being  too  late  for  him  to  return  home.  He 
shall  then  urge  the  prisoner  to  tell  him  all  the  particulars  of  his  past 
life,  having  first  told  him  the  whole  of  his  own ;  and  in  the  mean  time 
spies  shall  be  kept  in  hearing  at  the  door,  as  well  as  a  notary,  in  order 


THE  INQUISITION. 


329 


The  principles  on  which  the  ancient  Inquisition  was 
established  are  no  less  repugnant  to  justice  than  those 
which  regulated  the  modern ;  although  the  former,  it 
is  true,  was  mucl  less  extensive  in  its  operation.  The 
arm  of  persecution,  however,  fell  with  sufficient  heavi- 
ness, especially  during  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
centuries,  on  the  unfortunate  AlbiL'enses,  who,  from 
the  proximity  and  political  relat  of  Aragon  and 
Provence,  had  become  numerous  .n  the  former  king- 
dom. The  persecution  appears,  however,  to  have  been 
chiefly  confined  to  this  unfortunate  sect,  and  there  is 
no  evidence  that  the  Holy  Office,  notwithstanding 
papal  briefs  to  that  effect,  was  fully  organized  in  Cas- 
tile before  the  reign  of  Isabella.  This  is  perhaps  im- 
putable to  the  paucity  of  heretics  in  that  kingdom.  It 
cannot,  at  any  rate,  be  charged  to  any  lukewarmness 
in  its  sovereigns;  since  they,  from  the  time  of  St.  Fer- 
dinand, who  heaped  the  fagots  on  the  blazing  pile  with 
his  own  hands,  down  to  that  of  John  the  Second,  Isa- 
bella's father,  who  hunted  the  unhappy  heretics  of 
Biscay  like  so  many  wild  beasts  among  the  mountains, 
had  ever  evinced  a  lively  zeal  for  the  orthodox  faith.* 

to  certify  what  may  be  said  within."  Puigblanch,  Inquisition  Un- 
masked, translated  by  Walton  (London,  1816),  vol.  i.  pp.  238,  239. 

4  Mariana,  Hist,  de  Espana,  lib.  12,  cap.  n;  lib.  21,  cap.  17. — 
Llorente,  Hist,  de  I'lnquisition,  torn.  i.  chap.  3. — The  nature  of  the 
penance  imposed  on  reconciled  heretics  by  the  ancient  Inquisition  was 
much  more  severe  than  that  of  later  times.  Llorente  cites  an  act  of 
St.  Dominic  respecting  a  person  of  this  description,  named  Ponce 
Roger.  The  penitent  was  commanded  to  be  "  stripped  of  his  clothes 
and  beaten  with  rods  by  a  priest,  three  Sundays  in  succession,  from  the 
gate  of  the  city  to  the  door  of  the  church  ;  not  to  eat  any  kind  of  animal 
food  during  his  whole  life ;  to  keep  three  Lents  a  year,  without  even 
eating  fish ;  to  abstain  from  fish,  oil,  and  wine  three  days  in  the  week 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
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lit 

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330 


THE  INQUISITION. 


By  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  Albi- 
gensian  heresy  had  been  nearly  extirpated  by  the 
Inquisition  of  Aragon;  so  that  this  infernal  engine 
might  have  been  suffered  to  sleep  undisturbed  from 
want  of  sufficient  fuel  to  keep  it  in  motion,  when  new 
and  ample  materials  were  discovered  in  the  unfortunate 
race  of  Israel,  on  whom  the  sins  of  their  fathers  have 
been  so  unsparingly  visittd  by  every  nation  in  Christen- 
dom, among  whom  they  have  sojourned,  almost  to  the 
present  century.  As  this  remarkable  people,  who  seem 
to  have  preserved  their  unity  of  character  unbroken 
amid  the  thousand  fragments  into  which  they  have 
been  scattered,  attained  perhaps  to  greater  considera- 
tion in  Spain  than  in  any  other  part  of  Europe,  and  as 
the  efforts  of  the  Inquisition  were  directed  principally 
against  them  during  the  present  reign,  it  may  be  Well 
to  take  a  brief  review  cf  their  preceding  history  in  the 
Peninsula. 

Under  the  Visigothic  empire  the  Jews  multiplied 

exceedingly  in  the  country,  and  were  permitted  to 

acquire  considerable  power  and  wealth.   But  no  sooner 

had  their  Arian  masters  embraced  the  orthodox  faith 

than  they  began  to  testify  their  zeal  by  pouring  on  the 

Jews  the  most  pitiless  storm  of  persecution.     One  of 

their  laws  alone  condemned  the  whole  race  to  slavery; 

during  life,  except  in  case  of  sickness  or  excessive  labor ;  to  wear  a 
religious  dress  with  a  small  cross  embroidered  on  each  side  of  the 
breast ;  to  attend  mass  every  day,  if  he  had  the  means  of  doing  so,  and 
vespers  on  Sundays  and  festivals ;  to  recite  the  service  for  the  day  and 
the  night,  and  to  repeat  the  pater  noster  seven  times  in  the  day,  ten  times 
in  the  evening,  and  twenty  times  at  midnight."  (Ibid.,  chap.  4.)  If  the 
said  Roger  failed  in  any  of  the  above  requisitions,  he  was  to  be  burnt 
OS  a  relapsed  heretic !  This  was  the  encoitragement  held  out  by  St. 
Dominic  to  penitence. 


THE  INQUISITION. 


331 


and  Montesquieu  remarks,  without  much  exaggeration, 
that  to  the  Gothic  code  may  be  traced  all  the  maxims 
of  the  modern  Inquisition,  the  monks  of  the  fifteenth 
century  only  copying,  in  reference  to  the  Israelites,  the 
bishops  of  the  seventh. > 

After  the  Saracenic  invasion,  which  the  Jews,  per- 
haps with  reason,  are  accused  of  having  facilitated, 
they  resided  in  the  conquered  cities,  and  were  per- 
mitted to  mingle  with  the  Arabs  on  nearly  equal  terms. 
Their  common  Oriental  origin  produced  a  similarity 
of  tastes,  to  a  certain  extent,  not  unfavorable  to  such  a 
coalition.  At  any  rate,  the  early  Spanish  Arabs  were 
characterized  by  a  spirit  of  toleration  towards  both 
Jews  and  Christians,  **  the  people  of  the  book,"  as  they 
were  called,  which  had  scarcely  been  found  among  later 
Moslems.'  The  Jews  accordingly,  under  these  favor- 
able auspices,  not  only  accumulated  wealth  with  their 
usual  diligence,  but  gradually  rose  to  the  highest  civil 
dignities,  and  made  great  advances  in  various  depart- 

5  Montesquieu,  Esprit  des  Lois,  liv.  18,  chap.  i. — See  the  canon  of 
the  17th  council  of  Toledo,  condemning  the  IsraeUtish  race  to  bondage, 
in  Florez,  EspafLs  sagrada  (Madrid,  1747-75),  torn.  vi.  p.  329. — ^The 
Fuero  Juzgo  (ed.  de  la  Acad.  (Madrid,  1815),  lib.  12,  tit.  a  and  3)  is 
composed  of  the  most  inhuman  ordinances  against  this  unfortunate 
people. 

*  ThL  Koran  grants  protection  to  the  Jews  on  payment  of  tribute. 
See  the  Koran,  translated  by  Sale  (London,  1825),  chap.  9.  Still,  there 
is  ground  enough  (though  less  among  the  Spanish  Arabs  than  the  other 
Moslems)  for  the  following  caustic  remark  of  the  author  above  quoted : 
"  La  religion  juive  est  un  vieux  tronc  qui  a  produit  deux  branches  qui 
ont  couvert  toute  la  terre ;  je  veux  dire,  le  Mahom^tisme  et  le  Chris- 
tianisme:  ou  plut6t  c'est  une  mire  qui  a  engendr^  deux  filles,  qui 
I'ont  accabl^e  de  mille  plaies ;  car,  en  fait  de  religion,  les  plus  proches 
sont  les  plus  grands  des  ennemis."  Montesquieu,  Lettres  PersaneSt 
let.  60. 


\ 


33« 


THE  INQUISITION. 


ments  of  letters.  The  schools  of  Cordova,  Toledo, 
Barcelona,  and  Granada  were  crowded  with  numerous 
disciples,  who  emulated  the  Arabians  in  keeping-alive 
the  flame  of  learning  during  the  deep  darkness  of  the 
Middle  Ages.'  Whatever  may  be  thought  of  their  suc- 
cess in  speculative  philosophy,'  they  cannot  reasonably 
be  denied  to  have  contributed  largely  to  practical  and 
experimental  science.  They  were  diligent  travellers  in 
all  parts  of  the  known  world,  compiling  itineraries 
which  have  proved  of  extensive  use  in  later  times,  and 
bringing  home  hoards  of  foreign  specimens  and  Oriental 
drugs,  that  furnished  important  contributions  to  the 
domestic  pharmacopoeias.'    In  the  practice  of  medi- 

7  The  first  academy  founded  by  the  learned  Jews  in  Spain  was  that 
of  Cordova,  A.D.  948.  Castro,  Biblioteca  Espafiola,  torn.  i.  p.  a. — 
Basnage,  History  of  the  Jews,  translated  by  Taylor  (London,  1708), 
book  7,  chap.  5. 

8  In  addition  to  their  Talmudic  lore  and  Cabalistic  mysteries,  the 
Spanish  Jews  were  well  read  in  the  philosophy  of  Aristotle.  They  pre- 
tended that  the  Stagirite  was  a  convert  to  Judaism  and  had  borrowed 
his  science  from  the  writings  of  Solomon.  (Brucker,  Historia  critica 
Philosophiae  (Lipsise,  1766),  torn.  ii.  p.  853.)  M.  Degerando,  adopting 
similar  conclusions  with  Brucker,  in  regard  to  the  value  of  the  philo- 
sophical speculations  of  the  Jews,  passes  the  following  severe  sentence 
upon  the  intellectual,  and  indeed  moral,  character  of  the  nation :  "  Ce 
peuple,  par  son  caract&re,  ses  moeurs,  ses  institutions,  semblait  etrc 
destin^  k  rester  stationnaire.  Un  attachement  excessif  k  leurs  propres 
traditions  dominait  chez  les  Juifs  tous  les  penchans  de  I'esprit :  ils  restaient 
presque  Strangers  aux  progr&s  de  la  civilisation,  au  mouvement  g^n^ral 
de  la  soci^t^ ;  ils  ^taient  en  quelque  sorte  moralement  Isolds,  alois 
mSme  qu'ils  communiquaient  avec  tous  les  peuples,  et  ptarcouraient 
toutes  les  contr^es.  Aussi  nous  cherchons  en  vain,  dans  ceux  de  leurs 
Merits  qui  nous  sont  connus,  non-seulement  de  vraies  d^couvertes,  mais 
mSme  des  id^es  r^ellement  originales."  Histoire  compar^e  des  Sys- 
times  de  Philosophie  (Paris,  1822),  tom.  iv.  p.  299. 

9  Castro,  Biblioteca  Espaflola,  tom.  i.  pp.  21,  33,  et  alibi. — Benjamin 


THE  INQUISITION. 


333 


cine,  indeed,  they  became  so  expert  as  in  a  manner  to 
monopolize  that  profession.  They  made  great  pro- 
ficiency  in  mathematics,  and  particularly  in  astronomy; 
while  in  the  cultivation  of  elegant  letters  they  revived 
the  ancient  glories  of  the  Hebrew  muse.**  This  was 
indeed  the  golden  age  of  modern  Jewish  literature, 
which,  under  the  Spanish  caliphs,  experienced  a  pro- 
tection so  benign,  although  occasionally  checkered 
by  the  caprices  of  despotism,  that  it  was  enabled  to 
attain  higher  beauty  and  a  more  perfect  development 
in  the  tenth,  eleventh,  twelfth,  and  thirteenth  cen- 
turies, than  it  has  reached  in  any  other  part  of  Chris- 
tendom." 

The  ancient  Castilians  of  the  same  period,  very  dif- 
ferent from  their  Gothic  ancestors,  seem  to  have  con- 
ceded to  the  Israelites  somewhat  of  the  feelings  of 

of  Tudela's  celebrated  Itinerary,  having  been  translated  into  the  various 
languages  of  Europe,  passed  into  sixteen  editions  before  the  middle  of 
the  last  century.    Ibid.,  torn.  i.  pp.  79.  80. 

*o  The  beautiful  lament  which  the  royal  psalmist  has  put  into  the 
mouths  of  his  countrymen,  when  commanded  to  sing  the  songs  of  Sion 
in  a  strange  land,  cannot  be  applied  to  the  Spanish  Jews,  who,  &r  from 
hanging  their  harps  upon  the  willows,  poured  forth  their  lays  with  a 
freedom  and  vivacity  which  may  be  thought  to  savor  more  of  the 
modem  troubadour  than  of  the  ancient  Hebrew  minstrel.  Castro  has 
collected,  under  Siglo  XV..  a  few  gleanings  of  such  as.  by  their  incor- 
poration into  a  Christian  Cancionero.  escaped  the  friry  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion.    Biblioteca  Espafiola.  torn.  i.  pp.  265-364. 

>*  Castro  has  done  for  the  Hebrew  what  Casiri  a  few  years  before 
did  for  the  Arabic  Uterature  of  Spain,  by  giving  notices  of  such  works 
as  have  survived  the  ravages  of  time  and  superstition.  The  first  volume 
of  his  Biblioteca  Espafiola  contains  an  analysis  accompanied  with  ex- 
tracts frx>m  more  than  seven  hundred  different  works,  with  biographical 
sketches  of  their  authors ;  the  whole  bearing  most  honorable  testimony 
to  the  talent  and  various  erudition  of  the  Spanish  Jews. 


334 


THE  INQUISITION. 


ii 

*! 
«i 


respect  which  were  extorted  from  them  by  the  superior 
civilization  of  the  Spanish  Arabs.  We  find  eminent 
Jews  residing  in  the  courts  of  the  Christian  princes, 
directing  their  studies,  attending  them  as  physicians, 
or  more  frequently  administering  their  finances.  For 
this  last  vocation  they  seem  to  have  had  a  natural  apti- 
tude; and,  indeed,  the  correspondence  which  they 
maintained  with  the  different  countries  of  Europe  by 
means  of  their  own  countrymen,  who  acted  as  the 
brokers  of  almost  every  people  among  whom  they  were 
scattered  during  the  Middle  Ages,  afforded  them  pecu- 
liar facilities  both  in  politics  and  commerce.  We  meet 
with  Jewish  scholars  and  statesmen  attached  to  the 
courts  of  Alfonso  the  Tenth,  Alfonso  the  Eleventh, 
Peter  the  Cruel,  Henry  the  Second,  and  other  princes. 
Their  astronomical  science  recommended  them  in  a 
special  manner  to  Alfonso  the  Wise,  who  employed 
them  in  the  construction  of  his  celebrated  Tables. 
James  the  First  of  Aragon  condescended  to  receive 
instruction  from  them  in  ethics;  and,  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  we  notice  John  the  Second  of  Castile  employ- 
ing a  Jewish  secretary  in  the  compilation  of  a  national 
Cancionero."  ' 

But  all  this  royal  patronage  proved  incompetent  to 
protect  the  Jews  when  their  flourishing  fortunes  had 
risen  to  a  sufl&cient  height  to  excite  popular  envy,  aug- 
mented as  it  was  by  that  profuse  ostentation  of  equipage 

» ■  Basnage,  History  of  the  Jews,  book  7,  chap.  5,  15,  16. — Castro, 
Biblioteca  Espanola,  torn.  i.  pp.  Ji6,  265,  267. — Mariana,  Hist,  de 
EspaSa,  torn.  i.  p.  906 ; — torn.  ii.  pp.  63, 147, 459. — Samuel  Levi,  treas- 
urer of  Peter  the  Cruel,  who  was  sacrificed  to  the  cupidity  of  his  master, 
is  reported  by  Mariaaa  to  have  left  behind  him  the  incredible  sum  0/ 
400,000  ducats  to  swell  the  royal  coffers.    See  torn.  ii.  p.  83. 


THE   INQUISITION. 


335 


and  apparel  for  which  this  singular  people,  notwithstand- 
ing their  avarice,  have  usually  shown  a  predilection/* 
Stories  were  circulated  of  their  contempt  for  the  Catholic 
worship,  their  desecration  of  its  most  holy  symbols,  and 
of  their  crucifixion,  or  other  sacrifice,  of  Christian 
children  at  the  celebration  of  their  own  passover.** 
With  these  foolish  calumnies,  the  more  probable  charge 
of  usury  and  extortion  was  industriously  preferred 
against  them ;  till  at  length,  towards  the  close  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  the  fanatical  populace,  stimulated 
in  many  instances  by  the  no  less  fanatical  clergy,  and 
perhaps  encouraged  by  the  numerous  class  of  debtors 
to  the  Jews,  who  found  this  a  convenient  mode  of  set- 
tling their  accounts,  made  a  fierce  assault  on  this  un- 
fortunate people  in  Castile  and  Aragon,  breaking  into 
their  houses,  violating  their  most  private  sanctuaries, 
scattering  their  costly  collections  and  furniture,  and 

»3  Sir  Walter  Scott,  with  his  usual  discernment,  has  availed  him- 
self of  these  opposite  traits  in  his  portraits  of  Rebecca  and  Isaac  in 
Ivanhoe,  in  which  he  seems  to  have  contrasted  the  lights  and  shadows 
of  the  Jewish  character.  The  humiliating  state  of  the  Jews,  however, 
exhibited  in  this  romance,  affords  no  analogy  to  their  social  condition 
in  Spain ;  as  is  evinced  not  merely  by  their  wealth,  which  was  also 
conspicuous  in  the  English  Jews,  but  by  the  high  degree  of  civiliza- 
tion, and  even  political  consequence,  which,  notwithstanding  the  occa- 
sional ebullitions  of  popular  prejudice,  they  were  permitted  to  reach 
there. 

M  Calumnies  of  this  kind  were  current  all  over  Europe.  The  English 
reader  will  call  to  mind  the  monkish  fiction  of  the  little  Christian, 

"  Slain  with  cursed  Jewes,  as  it  is  notable," 

singing  most  devoutly  after  his  throat  was  cut  from  ear  to  ear,  in 
Chaucer's  Prioresse's  Tale.  See  another  in;;lance  in  the  old  Scottish 
ballad  of  "  The  Jew's  Daughter"  in  Perry's  "  Reliques  of  Ancient 
Poetry." 


336 


THE  INQUISITION. 


consigning  the  wretched  proprietors  to  indiscriminate 
massacre,  without  regard  to  sex  or  age.'^ 

In  this  crisis,  the  only  remedy  left  to  the  Jews  was  a 
real  or  feigned  conversion  to  Christianity.  St.  Vincent 
Ferrier,  a  Dominican  of  Valencia,  performed  such  a 
quantity  of  miracles,  in  furtherance  of  this  purpose,  as 
might  have  excited  the  envy  of  any  saint  in  the  Calen- 
dar; and  these,  aided  by  his  eloquence,  are  said  to 
have  changed  the  hearts  of  no  less  than  thirty-five 
thousand  of  the  race  of  Israel,  which  doubtless  must  be 
reckoned  the  greatest  miracle  of  all.'' 

The  legislative  enactments  of  this  period,  and  still 
more  under  John  the  Second,  during  the  first  half  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  were  uncommonly  severe  upon 
the  Jews.  While  they  were  prohibited  from  mingling 
freely  with  the  Christians,  and  from  exercising  the  pro- 
's Bemaldez,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  43. — Mariana,  Hist,  de 
Espafia,  torn.  ii.  pp.  186,  187. — In  1391,  5000  Jews  were  sacrificed  to 
the  popular  fury,  and,  according  to  Mariana,  no  less  than  10,000  had 
perished  from  the  same  cause  in  Navarre  about  sixty  years  before.  See 
torn.  i.  p.  912. 

x6  According  to  Mariana,  the  restoration  of  sight  to  the  blind,  feet 
to  the  lame,  even  life  to  the  dead,  were  miracles  of  ordinary  occurrence 
with  St.  Vincent.  (Hist,  de  Espafia,  tom.  ii.  pp.  229,  230.)  The  age 
of  miracles  had  probably  ceased  by  Isabella's  time,  or  the  Inquisition 
might  have  been  spared.  Nic.  Antonio,  in  his  notice  of  the  life  and 
labors  of  this  Dominican  (Bibliotheca  Vetus,  tom.  ii.  pp.  205,  207), 
states  that  he  preached  his  inspired  sermons  in  his  vernacular  Valen- 
cian  dialect  to  audiences  of  French,  English,  and  Italians  indiscrimi- 
nately, who  all  understood  him  perfectly  well ;  "  a  circumstance,"  says 
Dr.  McCrie,  in  his  valuable  "  History  of  the  Progress  and  Suppression 
of  the  Reformation  in  Spain"  (Edinburgh,  1829),  "which,  if  it  prove 
anything,  proves  that  the  hearers  of  St.  Vincent  possessed  more  miracu- 
lous powers  than  himself,  and  that  they  should  have  been  canonized, 
tatber  than  the  preacher."    p.  87,  note. 


THE  INQUISITION. 


337 


nate 

vas  a 
icent 
ich  a 
se,  as 
alen- 
id  to 
y-five 
istbe 

d  still 
alf  of 
upon 
ogling 
le  pro- 

Hist.  de 
ificed  to 
ooo  had 
ore.  See 

lind,  feet 
currence 
The  age 
uisition 
Ufe  and 
05,  207), 
Valen- 
discrimi- 
ice,"  says 
ppression 
it  prove 
miracu- 
Bonized, 


fessions  for  which  they  were  best  qualified,*'  their  resi- 
dence was  restricted  within  certain  prescribed  limits 
of  the  cities  which  they  inhabited  ;  and  they  were  not 
only  debarred  from  their  usual  luxury  of  ornament  in 
dress,  but  were  held  up  to  public  scorn,  as  it  were, 
by  some  peculiar  badge  or  emblem  embroidered  on 
their  garments.*' 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  Spanish  Jews  at  the 
accession  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  The  new  Chris- 
tians, or  converts,  as  those  who  had  renounced  the 
faith  of  their  fathers  were  denominated,  were  occa- 
sionally preferred  to  high  ecclesiastical  dignities,  which 
they  illustrated  by  their  integrity  and  learning.  They 
were  intrusted  with  municipal  offices  in  the  various 
cities  of  Castile ;  and,  as  their  wealth  furnished  an  ob- 
vious resource  for  repairing,  by  way  of  marriage,  the 
decayed  fortunes  of  the  nobility,  there  was  scarcely  a 
family  of  rank  in  the  land  whose  blood  had  not  been 
contaminated,  at  some  period  or  other,  by  mixture 
with  the  mala  sangre,  as  it  came  afterwards  to  be 
termed,  of  the  house  of  Judab ;  an  ignominious  stain, 

»7  They  were  interdicted  from  the  cafi'iigs  of  vintners,  grocers,  tav- 
emers,  especially  of  apothecaries,  and  of  physicians  and  nurses.  Or- 
denan9as  Reales,  lib.  8,  tit.  3,  leyes  11,  15,  18. 

18  f4o  law  was  more  frequently  reiterated  than  that  prohibiting  the 
Jews  from  acting  as  stewards  of  the  nobility,  or  farmers  and  collectors 
of  the  public  rents.  The  repetition  of  the  law  shows  to  what  extent 
this  people  had  engrossed  what  little  was  known  of  financial  science 
in  that  day.  For  the  multiplied  enactments  in  Castile  agaipst  them, 
see  Ordenanfas  Reales  (lib.  8,  tit.  3).  For  the  regulations  respecting 
the  Jews  in  Aragon,  many  of  them  oppressive,  particulai;ly  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  fifteenth  century,  see  Fueros  y  Observancias  del 
Reyno  de  Aragon  (Zaragosa,  1667),  tom.  i.  fol.  6.— Marca  Hispanica, 
pp.  1416,  1433. — Zurita,  Anales,  tom.  iii.  lib.  12,  cap.  45. 
Vol..  1. — 22  p 


I 


If 


338 


THE  INQUISITION. 


which  no  time  has  been  deemed  sufficient  wholly  to 
purge  away.'» 

Notwithstanding  the  show  of  prosperity  enjoyed  by 
the  converted  Jews,  their  situation  was  far  from  secure. 
Their  proselylism  had  been  too  sudden  to  be  generally 
sincere ;  and,  as  the  task  of  dissimulation  was  too  irk- 
some to  be  permanently  endured,  they  gradually  be- 
came less  circumspect,  and  exhibited  the  scandalous 
spectacle  of  apostates  returning  to  wallow  in  the  an- 
cient mire  of  Judaism.  The  clergy,  especially  the 
Dominicans,  who  seem  to  have  inherited  the  quick 
scent  for  heresy  which  distinguished  their  frantic 
founder,  were  not  slow  in  sounding  the  alarm ;  and  the 
superstitious  populace,  easily  roused  to  acts  of  violence 
in  the  name  of  religion,  began  to  exhibit  the  most 
tumultuous  movements,  and  actually  massacred  the  con- 
stable of  Castile  in  an  attempt  to  suppress  them  at 
Jaen,  the  year  preceding  the  accession  of  Isabella. 
After  this  period,  the  complaints  against  the  Jewish 
heresy  became  still  more  clamorous,  and  the  throne  was 
repeatedly  beset  with  petitions  to  devise  some  effectual 
means  for  its  extirpation.**  (1478.) 

V  Beroaldcz,  Reyes  Cat6Ucos.  MS.,  cap.  43. — LJorente,  Hist,  de 
rinquisition,  pr^f.  p.  36. — A  manuscript  entitled  Tuton  de  EspaHa 
(Brand  of  Spain),  tracing  up  many  a  noble  pedigree  to  a  Jewish  or 
Mahometan  root,  obtained  a  circulation,  to  the  great  scandal  of  the 
country,  which  the  efforts  of  the  government,  combined  witfi  thoso  of 
the  Inquisition,  have  not  been  wholly  able  to  suppress.  Copies  of  it, 
however,  are  now  rarely  to  be  met  with.  (Doblado,  Letters  from 
Spain  (London,  iSaa),  let.  a.)  Clemencin  notices  two  works  with  this 
title,  one  as  ancient  as  Ferdinand  and  Isabella's  time,  and  both  written 
by  bishops.    Mem.  de  la  Acad,  dc  Hist,  tom.  vi.  p.  u$. 

*o  Mariana,  Hist,  de  Espafia,  tom.  ii.  p.  479. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61i> 
cos,  port.  ii.  cap.  77. 


THE  INQUISITION. 


339 


A  chapter  of  the  Chronicle  of  the  Curate  of  Los 
Palacios,  who  lived  at  this  time  in  Andalusia,  where 
the  Je^s  seem  to  have  most  abounded,  throws  con- 
siderable light  on  the  real  as  well  as  pretended  motives 
of  the  subsequent  persecution.  '*  This  accursed  race," 
he  says,  speaking  of  the  Israelites,  "  were  either  un- 
willing to  bring  their  children  to  be  baptized,  or,  if 
they  did,  they  washed  away  the  stain  on  returning 
home.  They  dressed  their  stews  and  other  dishes  with 
oil,  instead  of  lard;  abstained  from  pork;  kept  the 
passover ;  ate  meat  in  Lent ;  and  sent  oil  to  replenish 
the  lamps  of  their  synagogues ;  with  many  other  abom- 
inable ceremonies  of  their  religion.  They  entertained 
no  respect  for  monastic  life,  and  frequently  profaned 
the  sanctity  of  religious  houses  by  the  violation  or 
seduction  of  their  inmates.  They  were  an  exceedingly 
politic  and  ambitious  people,  engrossing  the  most  lucra- 
tive municipal  offices,  and  preferred  to  gain  their  live- 
lihood by  traffic,  in  which  they  made  exorbitant  gains, 
rather  than  by  manual  labor  or  mechanical  arts.  They 
considered  themselves  in  the  hands  of  the  Egyptians, 
whom  it  was  a  merit  to  deceive  and  plunder.  By  their 
wicked  contrivances  they  amassed  great  wealth,  and 
thus  were  often  able  to  ally  themselves  by  marriage 
with  noble  Christian  families."" 

It  is  easy  to  discern,  in  this  medley  of  credulity  and 
superstition,  the  secret  envy  entertained  by  the  Cas- 
tilians  of  the  superior  skill  and  industry  of  their 
Hebrew  brethren,  and  of  the  superior  riches  which 
these  qualities  secured  to  them ;  and  it  is  impossible 


•*  Reyes  Cat6Ucos,  MS.,  cap.  43. 


'- 


4 

I 


140 


ruE  isquisiTioif, 


not  to  suspect  that  the  zeal  of  the  most  orthodox  was 
considerably  sharpened  by  worldly  motives. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  the  cry  against  the  Jewish  abom- 
inations now  became  general.  Among  those  most  active 
in  raising  it  were  Alfonso  de  Ojeda,  a  Dominican,  prior 
of  the  monastery  of  St.  Paul  in  Seville,  and  Diego  de 
Merlo,  assistant  of  that  city,  who  should  not  be  de- 
frauded of  the  meed  of  glory  to  which  they  are  justly 
entitled  by  their  exertions  for  the  establishment  of  the 
modem  Inquisition.  These  persons,  after  urging  on 
the  sovereigns  the  alarming  extent  to  which  the  Jewish 
leprosy  prevailed  in  Andalusia,  loudly  called  for  the 
introduction  of  the  Holy  Office,  as  the  only  effectual 
means  of  healing  it.  In  this  they  were  vigorously  sup- 
ported by  Niccold  Franco,  the  papal  nuncio  then  re- 
siding at  the  court  of  Castile.  Ferdinand  listened  with 
complacency  to  a  scheme  which  promised  an  ample 
source  of  revenue  in  the  confiscations  it  involved.  But 
it  was  not  so  easy  to  vanquish  Isabella's  aversion  to 
measures  so  repugnant  to  the  natural  benevolence  and 
magnanimity  of  her  character.  Her  scruples,  indeed, 
were  founded  rather  on  sentiment  than  reason,  the  ex- 
ercise of  which  was  little  countenanced  in  matters  of 
iaith  in  that  day,  when  the  dangerous  maxim,  that  the 
end  justifies  the  means,  was  universally  received,  and 
learned  theologians  seriously  disputed  whether  it  were 
permitted  to  make  peace  with  the  infidel,  and  even 
whether  promises  made  to  them  were  obligatory  on 
Christians.*" 

*■  Benaldes,  Rcjes  CatAUcos.  ubi  supra.— -Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat6Iicos, 
part.  3,  cap.  77. — ^Znftiga.  Annales  de  Sevilla,  p.  386. — Mem.  de  la 
Acad,  de  Hist,  torn.  vL  p.  44. — Uorente.  torn.  i.  pp.  143, 145. — Some 


THE  INQUISITION, 


341 


The  policy  of  the  Roman  church,  at  that  time,  was 
not  only  shown  in  its  perversion  of  some  of  the  most 
obvious  principles  of  morality,  but  in  th^  discourage- 
ment of  all  free  inquiry  in  its  disciples,  whom  it  in- 
structed  to  rely  implicitly  in  matters  of  conscience  on 
their  spiritual  advisers.  The  artful  institution  of  the 
tribunal  of  confession,  established  with  this  view, 
brought,  as  it  were,  the  whole  Christian  world  at  the 
feet  of  the  clergy,  who,  far  from  being  always  animated 
by  the  meek  spirit  of  the  gospel,  almost  justified  the 
reproach  of  Voltaire,  that  confessors  have  been  the 
source  of  most  of  the  violent  measures  pursued  by  princes 
of  the  Catholic  faith." 

Isabella's  serious  temper,  as  well  as  early  education, 
naturally  disposed  her  to  religious  influences.  Not- 
withstanding the  independence  exhibited  by  her  in  all 
secular  affairs,  in  her  own  spiritual  concerns  she  uni- 
formly testified  the  deepest  humility,  and  deferred  too 
implicitly  to  what  she  deemed  the  superior  sagacity,  or 
sanctity,  of  her  ghostly  counsellors.  An  instance  of 
this  humility  may  be  worth  recording.  When  Fray 
Fernando  de  Talavera,  afterwards  archbishop  of  Gra- 

writers  are  inclined  to  view  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  in  its  origin,  as 
little  else  than  a  political  engine.  Guizot  remarks  of  the  tribunal,  in 
one  of  his  lectures,  "  EUe  contenait  en  germe  ce  qu'elle  est  devenue; 
mais  elle  ne  I'^tait  pas  en  comnien9ant :  elle  fut  d'abord  plus  politique 
que  religieuse,  et  destin^e  \,  maintenir  I'ordre  plut6t  qu'k  d(ffendre  la 
foi."  (Cours  d'Histoire  modeme  (Paris,  1838-30),  torn.  v.  lee.  11.) 
This  statement  is  inaccurate  in  reference  to  Castile,  where  the  &cts  do 
not  warrant  us  in  imputing  any  other  motive  for  its  adoption  than  reli ' 
gious  zeal.  The  general  character  of  Ferdinand,  as  well  as  the  circum- 
stances under  which  it  was  introduced  into  Aragon,  may  justify  the 
inference  of  a  more  worldly  policy  in  its  establishment  there. 
•3  Essai  sur  les  Mceurs  et  I'Esprit  des  Nations,  chap.  176. 


342 


THE  INQUISITION. 


nada,  who  had  been  appointed  confessor  to  the  queen, 
attended  her  for  the  first  time  in  that  capacity,  he  con- 
tinued seated,  after  she  had  knelt  down  to  make  her 
confession,  which  drew  from  her  the  remark,  "that  it 
was  usual  for  both  parties  to  kneel."  "No,"  replied 
the  priest,  "this  is  God's  tribunal;  I  act  here  as  his 
minister,  and  it  is  fitting  that  I  should  keep  my  seat, 
while  your  Highness  kneels  before  me."  Isabella,  far 
from  ta^'ing  umbrage  at  the  ecclesiastic's  arrogant  de- 
meanor, complied  with  all  humility,  and  was  after- 
wards heard  to  say,  "This  is  the  confessor  that  I 
wanted.  "»♦ 

Well  had  it  been  for  the  land,  if  the  queen's  con- 
science had  always  been  intrusted  to  the  keeping  of 
persons  of  such  exemplary  piety  as  Talavera.  Unfor- 
tunately, in  her  early  days,  during  the  lifetime  of  her 
brother  Henry,  that  charge  was  committed  to  a  Domin- 
ican monk,  Thomas  de  Torquemada,  a  native  of  Old 
Castile,  subsequently  raised  to  the  rank  of  prior  of  Santa 
Cruz  in  Segovia,  and  condemned  to  infamous  immor- 
tality by  the  signal  part  which  he  performed  in  the 
tragedy  of  the  Inquisition.  This  man,  who  concealed 
more  pride  under  his  monastic  weeds  than  might  have 
furnished  forth  a  convent  of  his  order,  was  one  of  that 
class  with  whom  zeal  passes  for  religion,  and  who  testify 
their  zeal  by  a  fiery  persecution  of  those  whose  creed 

a*  Siguen9a,  Historia  de  la  Orden  de  San  Gerdnimo,  apud  Mem.  de 
la  Acad,  de  Hist.,  torn.  vi.  Ilust.  13. — ^This  anecdote  is  more  character- 
istic of  the  order  than  the  individual.  Oviedo  has  given  a  brief  notice 
of  this  prelate,  whose  virtues  raised  him  from  the  humblest  condition 
to  the  highest  posts  in  the  church,  and  gained  him,  to  quote  that  writer's 
words,  the  appellation  of  "  el  sancto,  6  el  buen  arzobis]x>  en  toda  Els- 
p:iiia."    Quincuagenas,  MS.,  dial,  de  Talavera. 


THE  INQUISITION. 


343 


differs  from  their  own ;  who  compensate  for  their  ab- 
stinence from  sensual  indulgence  by  giving  scope  to 
those  deadlier  vices  of  the  heart,  pride,  bigotry,  and 
intolerance,  which  are  no  less  opposed  to  virtue,  and 
are  far  more  extensively  mischievous  to  society.  This 
personage  had  earnestly  labored  to  infuse  into  Isabella's 
young  mind,  to  which  his  situation  as  her  confessor 
gave  him  such  ready  access,  the  same  spirit  of  fanati- 
cism that  glowed  in  his  own.  Fortunately  this  was 
greatly  counteracted  by  her  sound  understanding  and 
i;atural  kindness  of  heart.  Torquemada  urged  her,  or 
indeed,  as  is  stated  by  some,  extorted  a  promise,  that, 
**  should  she  ever  come  to  the  throne,  she  would  devote 
herself  to  the  extirpation  of  heresy,  for  the  glory  of  God, 
and  the  exaltation  of  the  Catholic  faith.""  The  time 
was  now  arrived  when  this  fatal  promise  was  to  be  dis- 
charged. 

It  is  due  to  Isabella's  fame  to  state  thus  much  in 
palliation  of  the  unfortunate  error  into  which  she  was 
led  by  her  misguided  zeal ;  an  error  so  grave,  that,  like 
a  vein  in  some  noble  piece  of  statuary,  it  gives  a  sinister 
expression  to  her  otherwise  unblemished  character. "• 
It  was  not  until  the  queen  had  endured  the  repeated 
importunities  of  the  clergy,  particularly  of  those  rever- 
end persons  in  whom  she  most  confided,  seconded  by 

"S  Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  323. 

■*  The  uniform  tenderness  with  which  the  most  liberal  Spanish  writers 
of  the  present  comparatively  enlightened  age,  as  Marina,  Llorente,  Cle- 
mencin,  etc.,  regard  the  memory  of  Isabella,  affords  an  honorable 
testimony  to  the  unsuspected  integrity  of  her  motives.  Even  in  rela- 
tion to  the  Inquisition,  her  countrymen  would  seem  willing  to  draw  a 
veil  over  her  errors,  or  to  excuse  her  by  charging  them  on  the  age  in 
which  she  lived. 


344 


THE  INQUISITION. 


the  arguments  of  Ferdinand,  that  she  consented  to 
solicit  from  the  pope  a  bull  for  the  introduction  of  the 
Holy  Office  into  Castile.  Sixtus  the  Fourth,  who  at 
that  time  filled  the  pontifical  chair,  easily  discerning 
the  sources  of  wealth  and  influence  which  this  measure 
opened  to  the  court  of  Rome,  readily  complied  with 
the  petition  of  the  sovereigns,  and  expedited  a  bull 
bearing  date  November  ist,  1478,  authorizing  them  to 
appoint  two  or  three  ecclesiastics,  inquisitors  for  the 
detection  and  suppression  of  heresy  throughout  their 
dominions."^ 

The  queen,  however,  still  averse  to  violent  measures, 
suspended  the  operation  of  the  ordinance  until  a  more 
lenient  policy  had  been  first  tried.  By  her  command, 
accordingly,  the  archbishop  of  Seville,  Cardinal  Men- 
doza,  drew  up  a  catechism  exhibiting  the  different  points 
of  the  Catholic  faith,  and  instructed  the  clergy  through- 
out his  diocese  to  spare  no  pains  in  illuminating  the 
benighted  Israelites,  by  means  of  friendly  exhortation 
and  a  candid  exposition  of  the  true  principles  of  Chris- 
tianity.""   How  far  the  spirit  of  these  injunctions  was 

»7  Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  part,  a,  cap.  77. — Bernaldez,  Reyes  Catdli- 
cos,  MS.,  cap.  43. — Llorente,  Hist,  de  I'lnquisition,  torn.  i.  pp.  143-145. 
— Much  discrepancy  exists  in  the  narratives  of  Pulgar,  Bernaldez,  and 
other  contemporary  writers,  in  reference  to  the  era  of  the  establishment 
of  the  modem  Inquisition.  I  have  followed  Llorente,  whose  chrono- 
logical accuracy,  here  and  elsewhere,  rests  on  the  most  authentic  docu- 
ments. 

"8  Bernaldez,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  ubi  supra. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61i- 
cos.  part.  2,  cap.  77. — I  find  no  contemporary  authority  for  imputing 
to  Cardinal  Mendoza  an  active  agency  in  the  establishment  of  the 
Inquisition,  as  is  claimed  for  him  by  later  writers,  and  especially  his 
kinsman  and  biographer,  the  canon  Salazar  de  Mendoza.  (Cr6n.  del 
Gran  Cardenal,  lib.  i,  cap.  49. — Monarquia,  torn.  i.  p.  336.)  The  con- 


THE  INQUISITION. 


343 


complied  with,  amid  the  excitement  then  prevailing, 
may  be  reasonably  doubted.  There  could  be  little 
doubt,  however,  that  a  report,  made  two  years  later 
by  a  commission  of  ecclesiastics  with  Alfonso  de  Ojeda 
ai;  its  head,  respecting  the  progress  of  the  reformation, 
would  be  necessarily  unfavorable  to  the  Jews."*  In  con- 
sequence of  this  report  the  papal  provisions  were 
enforced  by  the  nomination,  on  the  17th  of  September, 
1480,  of  two  Dominican  monks  as  inquisitors,  with  two 
other  ecclesiastics,  the  one  as  assessor,  and  the  other 
as  procurator  fiscal,  with  instructions  to  proceed  at 
once  to  Seville  and  enter  on  the  duties  of  their  office. 
Orders  were  also  issued  to  the  authorities  of  the  city  to 
support  the  inquisitors  by  all  the  aid  in  their  power. 
But  the  new  institution,  which  has  since  become  the 
miserable  boast  of  the  Castilians,  proved  so  distasteful 
to  them  in  its  origin  that  they  refused  any  co-operation 
with  its  ministers,  and  indeed  opposed  such  delays  and 
embarrassments  that,  during  the  first  years,  it  can 
scarcely  be  said  to  have  obtained  a  footing  in  any 
other  places  in  Andalusia  than  those  belonging  to  the 
crown." 

duct  of  this  eminent  minister  in  this  affair  seems,  on  the  contrary,  to 
have  been  equally  politic  and  humane.  The  imputation  of  bigotry 
was  not  cast  upon  it  until  the  age  when  bigotry  was  esteemed  a 
virtue. 

9  In  the  interim,  a  caustic  publication  by  a  Jew  appeared,  contain- 
ing strictures  on  the  conduct  of  the  administration,  and  even  on  the 
Christian  religion,  which  was  controverted  at  length  by  Talavera,  after- 
wards archbishop  of  Granada.  The  scandal  occasioned  by  this  ill-tined 
production  undoubtedly  contributed  to  exacerbate  the  popular  odi.im 
against  the  Israelites. 

3>  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  famous  cortes  of  Toledo,  assembled 
but  n  short  time  previous  to  the  above-mentioned  ordinances,  and 


'I 


i 


346 


THE  INQUISITION. 


i 


i 


' 


f; 


On  the  2d  of  January,  1481,  the  court  commenced 
operations  by  the  publication  of  an  edict,  followed  by 
several  others,  requiring  all  persons  to  aid  in  appre- 
hending and  accusing  all  such  as  they  might  know  or 
suspect  to  be  guilty  of  heresy,^  and  holding  out  the 
illusory  promise  of  absolution  to  such  as  should  confess 
their  errors  within  a  limited  period.  As  every  mode 
of  accusation,  even  anonymous,  was  invited,  the  num- 
ber of  victims  multiplied  so  fast  that  the  tribunal  found 
it  convenient  to  remove  its  sittings  from  the  convent 
of  St.  Paul,  within  the  city,  to  the  spacious  fortress 
of  Triana,  in  the  suburbs." 

The  presumptive  proofs  by  which  the  charge  of 
Judaism  was  established  against  the  accused  are  so 
curious  that  a  few  of  them  may  deserve  notice.  It  was 
considered  good  evidence  of  the  fact,  if  the  prisoner 

which  enacted  several  oppressive  laws  in  relation  to  the  Jews,  made 
no  allusion  whatever  to  the  proposed  establishment  of  a  tribmud  which 
was  to  be  armed  with  such  terrific  powers. 

3>  This  ordinance,  in  which  Llorente  discerns  the  first  regular  en- 
croachment of  the  new  tribunal  on  the  civil  jurisdiction,  was  aimed 
partly  at  the  Andalusian  nobility,  who  afforded  a  shelter  to  the  Jewish 
fugitives.  Llorente  has  fallen  into  the  error,  more  than  once,  of  speak- 
ing of  the  count  of  Arcos,  and  marquis  of  Cadiz,  as  separate  persons. 
The  possessor  of  both  titles  was  Rodrigo  Ponce  de  Leon,  who  inherited 
the  former  of  them  from  his  father.  The  latter  (which  he  afterwards 
made  so  illustrious  in  the  Moorish  wars)  was  conferred  on  him  by 
Henry  IV.,  being  derived  from  the  city  of  that  name,  which  had  been 
usurped  from  the  crown. 

3>  The  historian  of  Seville  quotes  the  Latin  inscription  on  the  portal 
of  the  edifice  in  which  the  sittings  of  the  dread  tribunal  were  held.  Its 
concluding  apostrophe  to  the  Deity  is  one  that  the  persecuted  might 
Join  in,  as  heartily  as  their  oppressors:  "  Exurge,  Domine;  judica 
causam  tuam ;  capite  nobis  vulpes."  Zuiiiga,  Annales  de  SeviUa,  p. 
389. 


THE  INQUISITIOX. 


347 


wore  better  clothes  or  cleaner  linen  on  the  Jewish  sab- 
bath than  on  other  days  of  the  week ;  if  he  had  no  fire 
in  his  house  the  preceding  evening ;  if  he  sat  at  table 
with  Jews,  or  ate  the  meat  of  animals  slaughtered  by 
their  hands,  or  drank  a  certain  beverage  held  in  much 
estimation  by  them;  if  he  washed  a  corpse  in  warm 
water,  or  when  dying  turned  his  face  to  the  wall ;  or, 
finally,  if  he  gave  Hebrew  names  to  his  children, — ^a 
provision  most  whimsically  cruel,  since,  by  a  law  of 
Henry  the  Second,  he  was  prohibited  under  severe 
penalties  from  giving  them  Christian  names.  He  must 
have  found  it  difficult  to  extricate  himself  from  the 
horns  of  this  dilemma.  3)  Such  are  a  few  of  the  circum- 
stances, some  of  them  purely  accidental  in  their  nature, 
others  the  result  of  early  habit,  which  might  well  have 
continued  after  a  sincere  conversion  to  Christianity, 
and  all  of  them  trivial,  on  which  capital  accusations 
were  to  be  alleged,  and  even  satisfactorily  estab- 
lished.3* 

The  inquisitors,  adopting  the  wily  and  tortuous 
policy  of  the  ancient  tribunal,  proceeded  with  a  de- 
spatch which  shows  that  they  could  have  paid  little 
deference  even  to  this  affectation  of  legal  form.  On 
the  sixth  day  of  January  six  convicts  suffered  at  the 
stake.  Seventeen  more  were  executed  in  March,  and 
a  still  greater  number  in  the  month  following;  and  by 
the  4th  of  November  in  the  same  year  no  less  than  two 
hundred  and  ninety-eight  individuals  had  been  sacri- 
ficed in  the  autos  dafe  of  Seville.  Besides  these,  the 
mouldering  remains  of  many,  who  had  been  tried  and 

3S  Onlenan9as  Reales.  Ub.  8,  tit  3,  ley  a6. 

3*  Llorente,  Hist,  de  I'lnquisition.  torn.  i.  pp.  153-159. 


348 


THE  INQUISITION. 


\ 
I 

1 


i 


1 


convicted  after  their  death,  were  torn  upfrom  their 
graves,  with  a  hyena-like  ferocity  which  has  disgraced 
no  other  court.  Christian  or  Pagan,  and  condemned  to 
the  common  funeral  pile.  This  was  prepared  on  a 
spacious  stone  scaffold,  erected  in  the  suburbs  of  the 
city,  with  the  statues  of  four  prophets  attached  to  the 
corners,  to  which  the  unhappy  sufferers  were  bound  for 
the  sacrifice,  and  which  the  worthy  Curate  of  Los 
Palacios  celebrates  with  much  complacency  as  the  spot 
"  where  heretics  were  burnt,  and  ought  to  bum  as  long 
as  any  can  be  found."* 

Many  of  the  convicts  were  persons  estimable  for 
learning  and  probity;  and  among  these  three  clergy- 
men are  named,  together  with  other  individuals  filling 
judicial  or  high  municipal  stations.  The  sword  of 
justice  was  observed,  in  particular,  to  strike  at  the 
wealthy,  the  least  pardonable  offenders  in  times  of  pro- 
scription. 

The  plague  which  desolated  Seville  this  year,  sweep- 
ing off  fifteen  thousand  inhabitants,  as  if  in  token  of  the 
wrath  of  Heaven  at  these  enormities,  did  not  palsy  for 
a  moment  the  arm  of  the  Inquisition,  which,  adjourn- 
ing to  Aracena,  continued  as  indefatigable  as  before. 

3S  Bemaldez,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  44. — Llorente,  Hist,  de 
rinquisition,  torn.  i.  p.  160. — L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol. 
164. — The  language  of  Bernaldez  as  applied  to  the  four  statutes  of  the 
quemadero,  "en  que  los  quemavan,"  is  so  equivocal  that  it  has  led  to 
some  doubts  whether  he  meant  to  assert  that  the  persons  to  be  burnt 
were  inclosed  in  the  statues  or  fastened  to  them.  Llorente's  subse- 
quent examination  has  led  him  to  discard  the  first  horrible  supposition, 
which  realized  the  fabled  cruelty  of  Phalaris. — This  monument  of  fanati- 
cism continued  to  disgrace  Seville  till  18 10,  when  it  was  removed  in 
order  to  make  room  for  the  construction  of  a  battery  against  the 
French. 


THE  INQUISITION. 


349 


A  similar  persecution  went  forward  in  other  parts  of  the 
province  of  Andalusia;  so  that  within  the  same  year, 
1 48 1,  the  number  of  the  sufferers  was  computed  at  two 
thousand  burnt  alive,  a  still  greater  number  in  effigy, 
and  seventeen  thousand  reconciled;  a  term  which  must 
not  be  understood  by  the  reader  to  signify  anything 
like  a  pardon  or  amnesty,  but  only  the  commutation 
of  a  capital  sentence  for  inferior  penalties,  as  fines,  civil 
incapacity,  very  generally  total  confiscation  of  property, 
and  not  unfrequently  imprisonment  for  life.^* 

The  Jews  were  astounded  by  the  bolt  which  had 
fallen  so  unexpectedly  upon  them.  Some  succeeded 
in  making  their  escape  to  Granada,  others  to  France, 
Germany,  or  Italy,  where  they  appealed  from  the  de- 
cisions of  the  Holy  Office  to  the  sovereign  pontiff.^ 


7fi  L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorablcs,  fol.  164. — Bernaldez,  Reyes  Catdli- 
cos,  MS.,  cap.  44. — Mariana,  lib.  24,  cap.  17. — Llorente,  Hist,  de  I'ln- 
qubition,  ubi  supra. — L.  Marineo  diffuses  the  tw<vthousand  capital 
executions  over  several  years.  He  sums  up  the  various  severities  of  the 
Holy  Office  in  the  following  gentle  terms :  "  The  church,  who  is  the 
mother  of  mercy  and  the  fountain  of  charity,  content  with  the  impo- 
sition of  penances,  generously  accords  life  to  many  who  do  not  deserve 
it ;  while  those  who  persist  obstinately  in  their  errors,  after  being  im- 
prisoned on  the  testimony  of  trustworthy  witnesses,  she  causes  to  be 
put  to  the  torture,  and  condemned  to  the  flames.  Some  miserably 
perish,  bewailing  their  errors,  and  invoking  the  name  of  Christ,  while 
others  call  upon  that  of  Moses.  Many,  again,  who  sincerely  repent, 
she,  notwithstanding  the  heinousness  of  their  transgressions,  merely 
sentences  to  perpetual  imprisonment."  (!)  Such  were  the  tender  mercies 
of  the  Spanish  Inquisition. 

37  Bernaldez  states  that  guards  were  posted  at  the  gates  of  the  city 
of  Seville  in  order  to  prevent  the  emigration  of  the  Jewish  inhabitants, 
which  indeed  was  forbidden  under  pain  of  death.  The  tribunal,  how- 
ever, had  greater  terrors  for  them,  and  many  succeeded  in  effecting  their 
escape.     Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  44. 


3SO 


THE  INQUISITION. 


Sixtus  the  Fourth  appears  for  a  moment  to  have  been 
touched  with  something  like  compunction;  for  he 
rebuked  the  intemperate  zeal  of  the  inquisitors,  and 
even  menaced  them  with  deprivation.  But  these  feel- 
ings, it  would  seem,  were  but  transient ;  for  in  1483 
we  find  the  same  pontiff  quieting  the  scruples  of  Isabella 
respecting  the  appropriation  of  the  confiscated  property, 
and  encouraging  both  sovereigns  to  proceed  in  the  great 
work  of  purification,  by  an  audacious  reference  to  the 
example  of  Jesus  Christ,  who,  says  he,  consolidated  his 
kingdom  on  earth  by  the  destruction  of  idolatry ;  and 
he  concludes  with  imputing  their  successes  in  the 
Moorish  war,  upon  which  they  had  then  entered,  to 
their  zeal  for  the  faith,  and  promising  them  the  like  in 
future.  In  the  course  of  the  same  year  he  expedited 
two  briefs,  appointing  Thomas  de  Torquemada  in- 
quisitor-general of  Castile  and  Aragon,  and  clothing 
him  with  full  powers  to  frame  a  new  constitution  for 
the  Holy  Office.  (Aug.  2  and  Oct.  17,  1483.)  This 
was  the  origin  of  that  terrible  tribunal,  the  Spanish  or 
Modern  Inquisition,  familiar  to  most  readers  whether 
of  history  or  romance,  which  for  three  centuries  has 
extended  its  iron  sway  over  the  dominions  of  Spain  and 
Portugal. 3*  Without  going  into  details  respecting  the 
organization  of  its  various  courts,  which  gradually 
swelled  to  thirteen  during  the  present  reign,  I  shall 
endeavor  to  exhibit  the   principles  which   regulated 

3B  L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  164. — Zufiiga,  Annates  de 
Sevilla,  p.  396. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  part.  2,  cap.  77. — Garibay, 
Compendio,  torn.  ii.  lib.  18,  cap.  17.^-Paranio,  De  Origine  Inquisi- 
tionis,  lib.  2,  tit.  2,  cap.  2. — Llorente,  Hist,  de  1' Inquisition,  torn.  i.  pp. 
163-173. 


THE  INQUISITION. 


351 


their  proceedings,  as  deduced  in  part  from  the  code 
digested  under  Torquemada,  and  partly  from  the  prac- 
tice which  obtained  during  his  supremacy.^^ 

Edicts  were  ordered  to  be  published  annually,  on  the 
first  two  Sundays  in  Lent,  throughout  the  churches, 
enjoining  it  as  a  sacred  duty  on  all  who  knew  or  sus- 
pected another  to  be  guilty  of  heresy  to  lodge  informa- 
tion against  him  before  the  Holy  Office;  and  the 
ministers  of  religion  were  instructed  to  refuse  absolu- 
tion to  such  as  hesitated  to  comply  with  this,  although 
the  suspected  person  might  stand  in  the  relation  of 
parent,  child,  husband,  or  wife.  All  accusations, 
anonymous  as  well  as  signed,  w^ere  admitted ;  it  being 
only  necessary  to  specify  the  names  of  the  witnesses, 
whose  testimony  was  taken  down  in  writing  by  a  secre- 
tary, and  afterwards  read  to  them,  which,  unless  the 
inaccuracies  were  so  gross  as  to  force  themselves  upon 
their  attention,  they  seldom  failed  to  confirm.^ 

39  Over  these  subordinate  tribunals  Ferdinand  erected  a  court  of 
supervision,  with  appellate  jurisdiction,  under  the  name  of  Council 
of  the  Supreme,  consisting  of  the  grand  inquisitor  as  president,  and 
three  other  ecclesiastics,  two  of  them  doctors  of  law.  The  principal 
purpose  of  this  new  creation  was  to  secure  the  interest  of  the  crown  in 
the  confiscated  property,  and  to  guard  against  the  encroachment  of  the 
Inquisition  on  secular  jurisdiction.  The  expedient,  however,  wholly 
failed,  because  most  of  the  questions  brought  before  this  court  were 
determined  by  the  principles  of  the  canon  law,  of  which  the  grand 
inquisitor  was  to  be  sole  interpreter,  the  others  having  only,  as  it  was 
termed,  a  "consultative  voice."  Llorente,  tom.  i.  pp.  173,  174. — 
Zurita,  Anales,  tom.  iv.  fol.  334. — Riol,  Informe,  apud  Semanario 
erudito,  tom.  iii.  pp.  156  et  seq. 

♦>  Puigblanch,  Inquisition  Unmasked,  vol.  i.  chap.  4. — Llorente. 
Hist,  de  ITnquisition,  tom.  i.  chap.  6,  art.  i ;  chap.  9,  art.  z,  2. — ^The 
witnesses  were  questioned  in  such  general  terms  that  they  were  even 
kept  in  ignorance  of  the  particular  matter  respecting  which  they  were 


I 


35  » 


THE  INQUISITION. 


The  accused,  in  the  mean  time,  whose  mysterious 
disappearance  was  perhaps  the  only  public  evidence 
of  his  arrest,  was  conveyed  to  the  secret  chambers  of 
the  Inquisition,  where  he  was  jealously  excluded  from 
intercourse  with  all,  save  a  priest  of  the  Romish  church 
and  his  jailer,  both  of  whom  might  be  regarded  as  the 
spies  of  the  tribunal.  In  this  desolate  condition,  the 
unfortunate  man,  cut  off  from  external  communication 
and  all  cheering  sympathy  or  support,  was  kept  for  some 
time  in  ignorance  even  of  the  nature  of  the  charges 
preferred  against  him,  and  at  length,  instead  of  the 
original  process,  was  favored  only  with  extracts  from 
the  depositions  of  the  witnesses,  so  garbled  as  to  con- 
ceal every  possible  clue  to  their  name  and  quality. 
With  still  greater  unfairness,  no  mention  whatever  was 
made  of  such  testimony  as  had  arisen,  in  the  course  of 
the  examination,  in  his  own  favor.  Counsel  was  indeed 
allowed  from  a  list  presented  by  his  judges.  But  this 
privilege  availed  little,  since  the  parties  were  not  per- 
mitted to  confer  together,  and  the  advocate  was  fur- 
nished with  no  other  sources  of  information  than  what 
had  been  granted  to  his  client.  To  add  to  the  injustice 
of  these  proceedings,  every  discrepancy  in  the  state- 
ments of  the  witnesses  was  converted  into  a  separate 
charge  against  the  prisoner,  who  thus,  instead  of  one 
crime,  stood  accused  of  several.  This,  taken  in  con- 
expected  to  testify.  Thus,  th^  were  asked  "  if  they  knew  anything 
which  had  been  said  or  done  contrary  to  the  Catholic  faith  and  the 
interests  of  the  tribunal."  Their  answers  often  opened  a  new  scent  to 
the  judges,  and  thus,  in  the  language  of  Montanus,  "brought  more 
Ashes  into  the  inquisitors'  holy  angle."  See  Montaniis,  Discovery  and 
Playne  Declaration  of  sundry  subtill  Practises  of  the  Holy  Inquisition 
of  Spayne,  Elng.  trans.  (London,  1569),  fol.  14. 


THE   INQUISITION. 


353 


the 


nection  with  the  concealment  of  time,  place,  and  cir- 
cumstance in  the  accusations,  created  such  embarrass- 
ment that,  unless  the  accused  was  possessed  of  unusual 
acuteness  and  presence  of  mind,  it  was  sure  to  involve 
him,  in  his  attempts  to  explain,  in  inextricable  contra- 
diction.^ 

If  the  prisoner  refused  to  confess  his  guilt,  or,  as  was 
usual,  was  suspected  of  evasion  or  an  attempt  to  conceal 
the  truth,  he  was  subjected  to  the  torture.  This,  which 
was  administered  in  the  deepest  vaults  of  the  Inquisition, 
where  the  cries  of  the  victim  could  fall  on  no  ear  save 
that  of  his  tormentors,  is  admitted  by  the  secretary  of 
the  Holy  Office,  who  has  furnished  the  most  authentic 
report  of  its  transactions,  not  to  have  been  exaggerated 
in  any  of  the  numerous  narratives  which  have  dragged 
these  subterranean  horrors  into  light.  If  the  intensity 
of  pain  extorted  a  confession  from  the  sufferer,  he  was 
expected,  if  he  survived,  which  did  not  always  happen, 
to  confirm  it  on  the  next  day.  Should  he  refuse  to  do 
this,  his  mutilated  members  were  condemned  to  a  repe- 
tition of  the  same  sufferings,  until  his  obstinacy  (it 
should  rather  have  been  termed  his  heroism)  might  be 
vanquished. ♦•    Should  the  rack,  however,  prove  inef- 


4*  Liniborch,  Inquisition,  book  4,  chap.  ao. — Montanus,  Inquisition 
of  Spayne,  fol.  6-15. — Llorente,  Hist,  de  I'lnquisition,  torn.  i.  chap.  6, 
art.  i;  chap.  9,  art.  4-9. — Puigblanch,  Inquisition  Unmasked,  vol.  i. 
chap.  4. 

*»  Llorente,  Hist,  de  I'lnquisition,  torn.  i.  chap.  9,  art.  7.— By  a  sub- 
sequent regulatit)n  of  Philip  II.,  the  repetition  of  torture  in  the  same 
process  was  strictly  prohibited  to  the  inquisitors.  But  they,  making 
use  of  a  sophism  worthy  of  the  arch-fiend  himself,  contrived  to  evade 
this  law,  by  pretending,  after  each  new  infliction,  that  tliey  had  only 
suspended,  and  not  terminated,  the  torture  I 
Vol.  I. — 23 


354 


THE  INQUISITION. 


fectual  to  force  a  confession  of  his  guilt,  he  was  so  fai 
from  being  considered  as  having  established  his  inno- 
cence,  that,  with  a  barbarity  unknown  to  any  tribunal 
where  the  torture  has  been  admitted,  and  which  of 
itself  proves  its  utter  incompetency  to  the  ends  it  pro- 
poses, he  was  not  unfrequently  convicted  on  the  depo- 
sitions of  the  witnesses.  At  the  conclusion  of  his  mock 
trial,  the  prisoner  was  again  returned  to  his  dungeon, 
where,  without  the  blaze  of  a  single  fagot  to  dispel  the 
cold  or  illuminate  the  darkness  of  the  long  winter  night, 
he  was  left  in  unbroken  silence  to  await  the  doom  which 
was  to  consign  him  to  an  ignominious  death,  or  a  life 
scarcely  less  ignominious.^ 

The  proceedings  of  the  tribunal,  as  I  have  stated 
them,  were  plainly  charactt.  '  ^ed  throughout  by  the 
most  flagrant  injustice  and  inhumanity  to  the  accused. 
Instead  of  presuming  his  innocence  until  his  guilt  had 
been  established,  it  acted  on  exactly  the  opposite  prin- 
ciple. Instead  of  affording  him  the  protection  accorded 
by  every  other  judicature,  and  especially  demanded  in 
his  forlorn  situation,  it  used  the  most  insidious  arts  to 
circumvent  and  to  crush  him.     He  had  no  remedy 

«s  Montanus.  Inquisition  of  Spayne,  fol.  34  et  seq. — Limborch,  In- 
quisition, voL  it  chsqi.  39. — Puigblanch,  Inquisition  Unmasked,  vol.  i. 
chap.  4. — Llorente,  Hist  de  I'lnquisition,  ubi  supra. — I  shall  spare  the 
reader  the  description  of  the  various  modes  of  torture,  the  rack,  fire, 
and  pulley,  practised  bv  the  inquisitors,  which  have  been  so  often  de- 
tailed in  the  doleful  narratives  of  such  as  have  had  the  fortune  to  escape 
with  life  from  the  fimgs  of  the  tribunal.  If  we  are  to  believe  Llorente, 
these  barbarities  have  not  been  decreed  for  a  long  time.  Yet  some 
recent  statements  are  at  variance  with  this  assertion.  See,  among 
others,  the  celebrated  adventurer  Van  Halen's  "  Narrative  of  his  Im- 
prisonment in  the  Dungeons  of  the  Inquisition  at  Madrid,  and  his 
Escape,  in  18x7-18." 


THE  INQUISITION. 


355 


as  su  far 
lis  inno- 
tribunal 
hich  of 
s  it  pro- 
le depo- 
lis  mock 
ungeon, 
spel  the 
;r  night, 
n  which 
or  a  life 

!  stated 
by  the 
iccused. 
uilt  had 
te  prin- 
:corded 
nded  in 
arts  to 
remedy 

lorch,  In- 
ed,  vol.  i. 
spare  the 
rack,  fire, 
often  de- 
to  escape 
Llorente, 
fet  some 
!,  among 
'  his  Im- 
and  his 


against  malice  or  misapprehension  on  the  part  of  his 
accusers,  or  the  witnesses  against  him,  who  might  be 
his  bitterest  enemies ;  since  they  were  never  revealed 
to,  nor  confronted  with,  the  prisoner,  nor  subjected  to 
a  cross-examination,  which  can  best  expose  error  or 
wilful  collusion  in  the  evidence.^  Even  the  poor  forms 
of  justice  recognized  in  this  court  might  be  readily  dis- 
pensed with,  as  its  proceedings  were  impenetrably 
shrouded  from  the  public  eye  by  the  appalling  oath  of 
secrecy  imposed  on  all,  whether  functionaries,  witnesses, 
or  prisoners,  who  entered  within  its  precincts.  The  last 
and  not  the  least  odious  feature  of  the  whole  was  the 
connection  established  between  the  condemnation  of 
the  accused  and  the  interests  of  his  judges ;  since  the 
confiscations,  which  were  the  uniform  penalties  \)f 
heresy,^  were  not  permitted  to  flow  into  the  royal  ex- 
chequer until  they  had  first  discharged  the  expenses, 
whether  in  the  shape  of  salaries  or  otherwise,  incident 
to  the  Holy  Office.** 

44  The  prisoner  had  indeed  the  right  of  challenging  any  witness  on 
the  ground  of  personal  enmity.  (Llorente,  Hist,  de  I'lnquisition,  torn, 
i.  chap.  9,  art.  lo.)  But  as  he  was  kept  in  ignorance  of  the  names  of 
the  witnesses  employed  against  him,  and  as,  even  if  he  conjectured 
right,  the  degree  of  enmity  competent  to  set  aside  testimony  was  to  be 
determined  by  his  judges,  it  is  evident  that  his  privilege  of  challenge 
was  wholly  nugatory. 

45  Confiscation  had  long  been  decreed  as  the  punishment  of  convicted 
heretics  by  the  statutes  of  Castile.  (Ordenan9as  Rcales,  lib.  8,  tit.  4.) 
The  avarice  of  the  present  system,  however,  is  exemplified  by  the  fact 
that  those  who  confessed  and  sought  absolution  within  the  brief  term 
of  grace  allowed  by  the  inquisitors  from  the  publication  of  their  edict 
were  liable  to  arbitrary  fines ;  and  those  who  confessed  after  that  period 
escaped  with  nothing  short  of  confiscation.  Llorente,  Hist,  de  I'ln- 
quisition, torn.  i.  pp.  176,  177. 

46  Ibid.,  tom.  i.  p.  316. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn,  iv.fol.  324. — Salazarde 


35^ 


THE  INQUISITION. 


The  last  scene  in  this  dismal  tragedy  was  the  act  of 
faith  (auto  da  fe),  the  most  imposing  spectacle,  prob- 
ably, which  has  been  witnessed  since  the  ancient  Roman 
triumph,  and  which,  as  intimated  by  a  Spanish  writer, 
was  intended,  somewhat  profanely,  to  represent  the  ter- 
rors of  the  Day  of  Judgment.^    The  proudest  grandees 

Mendoza,  Monarquia,  torn.  i.  fol.  337. — It  is  easy  to  discern,  in  every 
part  of  the  odious  scheme  of  the  Inquisition,  the  contrivance  of  the 
monks,  a  class  of  men  cut  off  by  their  profession  from  the  usual  sym- 
pathies of  social  life,  and  who,  accustomed  to  the  tyranny  of  the  con- 
fessional, aimed  at  establishing  the  same  jurisdiction  over  thoughts 
which  secular  tribunals  have  wisely  confined  to  actions.  Time,  instead 
of  softening,  gave  increased  harshness  to  the  features  of  the  new  system. 
The  most  humane  provisions  were  constantly  evaded  in  practice ;  and 
the  toils  for  ensnaring  the  victim  were  so  ingeniously  multiplied  that 
few,  very-few,  were  permitted  to  escape  without  some  censure.  Not 
more  than  one  person,  says  Llorente,  in  one  or  perhaps  two  thousand 
processes,  previous  to  the  time  of  Philip  III.,  received  entire  absolu- 
tion. So  that  it  came  to  be  proverbial  that  all  who  were  not  roasted 
were  at  least  singed. 

"  Devant  I'Inquisition,  quand  on  vient  &  jub^, 
Si  Ton  ne  sort  rdti,  Ton  sort  au  moins  flamb^." 

47  Montanus,  Inquisition  of  Spayne,  fql.  46. — Puigblanch,  Inquisition 
Unmasked,  vol.  i.  chap.  4. — Every  reader  of  Tacitus  and  Juvenal  will 
remember  how  early  the  Christians  were  condemned  to  endure  the 
penalty  of  fire.  Perhaps  the  earliest  instance  of  burning  to  death  for 
heresy  in  moden  times  occurred  under  the  reign  of  Robert  of  France, 
in  the  early  part  of  the  eleventh  century.  (Sismondi,  Hist,  des  Fran9ais, 
tom.  iv.  chap.  4.)  Paramo,  as  usual,  finds  authority  for  inquisitorial 
autos  da  fe,  where  one  would  least  expect  it,  in  the  New  Testament. 
Among  other  examples,  he  quotes  the  remark  of  James  and  John, 
who,  when  the  village  of  Samaria  refused  to  admit  Christ  within  its 
walls,  would  have  called  down  fire  from  heaven  to  consume  its  inhabit- 
ants. "  Lo !"  says  Paramo,  "  fire,  the  punishment  of  heretics;  for  the 
Samaritans  were  the  heretics  of  those  times.""  (De  Origine  Inqui- 
sitionis,  lib.  i,  tit.  3,  cap.  5.)  The  worthy  father  omits  to  add  the  im- 
pressive rebuke  of  our  Saviour  to  his  over-zealous  disciples :  "  Ye  know 


THE  INQUISITION. 


357 


of  the  land,  on  this  occasion,  putting  on  the  sable  livery 
of  familiars  of  the  Holy  Office  and  bearing  aloft  its  ban- 
ners, condescended  to  act  as  the  escort  of  its  ministers; 
while  the  ceremony  was  not  unfrequently  countenanced 
by  the  royal  presence.  It  should  be  stated,  however, 
that  neither  of  these  acts  of  condescension,  or,  more 
properly,  humiliation,  was  witnessed  until  a  period 
posterior  to  the  present  reign.  The  effect  was  further 
heightened  by  the  concourse  of  ecclesiastics  in  their 
sacerdotal  robes,  and  the  pompous  ceremonial  which 
the  church  of  Rome  knows  so  well  how  to  display  on 
fitting  occasions,  and  which  was  intended  to  conse- 
crate, as  it  were,  this  bloody  sacrifice  by  the  authority 
of  a  religion  which  has  expressly  declared  that  it  de- 
sires mercy  and  not  sacrifice.^ 

The  most  important  actors  in  the  scene  were  the 
unfortunate  convicts,  who  were  now  disgorged  for  the 
first  time  from  the  dungeons  of  the  tribunal.  They 
were  clad  in  coarse  woollen  garments,  styled  san  benitosy 
brought  close  round  the  neck  and  descending  like  a 
frock  down  to  the  knees.**    These  were  of  a  yellow 

not  what  manner  of  spirit  ye  are  of.  The  Son  of  man  is  not  come  to 
destroy  men's  lives,  but  to  save  them." 

48  Puigblanch,  vol.  i.  chap.  4. — The  inquisitors  after  the  celebration 
of  an  auto  da  fe.  at  Guadaloupe,  in  1485,  wishing  probably  to  justify 
these  bloody  executions  in  the  eyes  of  the  people,  who  had  not  yet  be- 
come familiar  with  them,  solicited  a  sign  from  the  Virgin  (whose  shrine 
in  that  place  is  noted  all  over  Spain)  in  testimony  of  her  approbation 
of  the  Holy  Office.  Their  petition  was  answered  by  such  a  profusion 
of  miracles  that  Dr.  Francis  Sanctius  de  la  Fuentc,  who  acted  as  scribe 
on  the  occasion,  became  out  of  breath,  and,  after  recording  sixty,  gave 
np  in  despair,  unable  to  keep  pace  with  their  marvellous  rapidity. 
Paramo,  De  Origine  Inquisitionis,  lib.  2,  tit.  2,  cap.  3. 

49  San  benito,  according  to  Llorente  (torn.  i.  p.  127),  is  a  comiptioo 


f 

H 

1^: 

ra 

4B 

■ 

.J.. 

1 

%■ ' 

'IKb 

u 

M 

gjl 

^n 

l?l 

n 

358 


THE  INQUISITION. 


Hj 


color,  embroidered  with  a  scarlet  cross,  and  well  gar- 
nished with  figures  of  devils  and  flames  of  fire,  which, 
typical  of  the  heretic's  destiny  hereafter,  served  to  make 
him  more  odious  in  the  eyes  of  the  superstitious  multi- 
tude.** The  greater  part  of  the  sufferers  were  condemned 
to  be  reconciled^  the  manifold  meanings  of  which  soft 
phrase  have  been  already  explained.  Those  who  were 
to  be  relaxed^  as  it  was  called,  were  delivered  over,  as 
impenitent  heretics,  to  the  secular  arm,  in  order  to 
expiate  their  offence  by  the  most  painful  of  deaths, 
with  the  consciousness,  still  more  painful,  that  they 
were  to  leave  behind  them  names  branded  with  infamy, 
and  families  involved  in  irretrievable  ruin.^' 

of  saco  bendito,  being  the  name  given  to  the  dresses  worn  by  penitents 
previously  to  the  thirteenth  century. 

*>  Llorente,  Hist,  de  I'lnquisition,  torn.  i.  chap.  9,  art.  16. — Puig- 
blanch,  Inquisition  Unmasked,  vol.  i.  chap.  4. — Voltaire  remarks  (Essai 
sur  les  Mceurs,  chap.  140)  that  "  An  Asiatic,  arriving  at  Madrid  on  the 
day  of  an  auto  da  fe,  would  doubt  whether  it  were  a  festival,  religious 
celebration,  sacrifice,  or  massacre :  it  is  all  of  them.  They  reproach 
Montezuma  with  sacrificing  human  captives  to  the  gods.  What  would 
he  have  said  had  he  witnessed  an  auto  da  fe  ?" 

s<  The  government,  at  least,  cannot  be  charged  with  remissness  in 
promoting  this.  I  find  two  ordinances  in  the  royal  collection  oiprag- 
miticas,  dated  in  September,  1501  (there  must  be  some  error  in  the 
date  of  one  of  them),  inhibiting,  under  pain  of  confiscation  of  property, 
such  as  had  been  reconciled,  and  their  children  by  the  mother's  side, 
and  grandchildren  by  the  father's,  from  holding  any  office  in  the  privy 
council,  courts  of  justice,  or  in  the  municipalities,  or  any  otlier  place  of 
trust  or  honor.  They  were  also  excluded  from  the  vocations  of  notaries, 
surgeons,  and  a,  othecaries.  (Pragmdticas  del  Reyno,  fol,  5,  6.)  This 
was  visiting  the  sins  of  the  fathers,  to  an  extent  unparalleled  in  modem 
legislation.  The  sovereigns  might  find  a  precedent  in  a  law  of  Sylla, 
excluding  the  children  of  the  proscribed  Romans  from  political  honors ; 
thus  indignantly  noticed  by  Sallust :  "  Quin  solus  omnium,  post  memo- 
riam  hominum,  supplicia  in  post  futuros  composuit;  quis  prim  injuria 
guim  vita  certa  esset."     Hist.  Fragmenta,  lib.  i. 


THE  INQUISITION. 


359 


It  is  remarkable  that  a  system  so  monstrous  as  that 
of  the  Inquisition,  presenting  the  most  effectual  barrier, 
probably,  that  was  ever  opposed  to  the  progress  of 
knowledge,  should  have  been  revived  at  the  close  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  when  the  light  of  civilization  was 
rapidly  advancing  over  every  part  of  Europe.  It  is 
more  remarkable  that  it  should  have  occurred  in  Spain, 
at  this  time  under  a  government  which  had  displayed 
great  religious  independence  on  more  than  one  occa- 
sion, and  which  had  paid  uniform  regard  to  the  rights 
of  its  subjects  and  pursued  a  generous  policy  in  reference 
to  their  intellectual  culture.  Where,  we  are  tempted  to 
ask,  when  we  behold  the  persecution  of  an  innocent, 
industrious  people  for  the  crime  of  adhesion  to  the 
faith  of  their  ancestors, — where  was  the  charity  which 
led  the  old  Castilian  to  reverence  valor  and  virtue  in 
an  infidel,  though  an  enemy, — where  the  chivalrous 
self-devotion  which  led  an  Aragonese  monarch,  three 
centuries  before,  to  give  away  his  life  in  defence  of  the 
persecuted  sectaries  of  Provence, — where  the  inde- 
pendent spirit  which  prompted  the  Castilian  nobles, 
during  the  very  last  reign,  to  reject  with  scorn  the 
purposed  interference  of  the  pope  himself  in  their  con- 
cerns, that  they  were  now  reduced  to  bow  their  necks 
to  a  few  frantic  priests,  the  members  of  an  order  which, 
in  Spain  at  least,  was  quite  as  conspicuous  for  ignorance 
as  intolerance?  True,  indeed,  the  Castilians,  and  the 
Aragonese  subsequently  still  more,  gave  such  evidence 
of  their  aversion  to  the  institution,  that  it  can  hardly 
be  believed  the  clergy  would  have  succeeded  in  fasten- 
ing it  upon  them,  had  they  not  availed  themselves  of 


1*1 
1 


*; 
< 


\% 


360 


THE  INQUISITION. 


': 


the  popular  prejudices  against  the  Jews.s"  Providence, 
however,  permitted  that  the  sufferings  thus  heaped  on 
the  heads  of  this  unfortunate  people  should  be  requited 
in  full  measure  to  the  nation  that  inflicted  them.  The 
fires  of  the  Inquisition,  which  were  lighted  exclusively 
for  the  Jews,  were  destined  eventually  to  consume  their 
oppressors.  They  were  still  more  deeply  avenged  in 
the  moral  influence  of  this  tribunal,  which,  eating  like 
a  pestilent  canker  into  the  heart  of  the  monarchy,  at 
the  very  time  when  it  was  exhibiting  a  most  goodly 
promise,  left  it  at  length  a  bare  and  sapless  trunk. 

Notwithstanding  the  persecutions  under  Torquemada 
were  confined  almost  wholly  to  the  Jews,  his  activity 
was  such  as  to  furnish  abundant  precedent,  in  regard 
to  forms  of  proceeding,  for  his  successors ;  if,  indeed, 
the  word  forms  may  be  applied  to  the  conduct  of  trials 
so  summary  that  the  tribunal  of  Toledo  alone,  under 
the  superintendence  of  two  inquisitors,  disposed  of  three 
thousand  three  hundred  and  twenty-seven  processes  in 
little  more  than  a  year."  The  number  of  convicts  was 
greatly  swelled  by  the  blunders  of  the  Dominican 
monks,  who  acted  as  qualificators,  or  interpreters  of 
what  constituted  heresy,  and  whose  ignorance  led  them 

5>  The  Aragonese,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  made  a  manly  though 
ineffectual  resistance,  from  the  first,  to  the  introduction  of  the  Inquisition 
among  them  by  Ferdinand.  In  Castile,  its  enormous  abuses  provoked 
the  spirited  interposition  of  the  legislature  at  the  commencement  of  the 
following  reign.     But  it  was  then  too  late. 

S3  1485-6.  (Llorente,  Hist,  de  1' Inquisition,  torn.  i.  p.  239.) — In  Seville, 
with  probably  no  greater  apparatus,  in  1482,  21,000  processes  were  dis- 
posed of.  These  were  the  first-fruits  of  the  Jewish  heresy,  when  Tor- 
quemada, although  an  inquisitor,  had  not  the  supreme  control  of  the 
tribimal. 


THE  INQUISITION. 


361 


ience, 
)ed  on 
quited 
The 
usively 
e  their 
ged  in 
ng  like 
chy,  at 
goodly 
k. 

uemada 
activity 

regard 
indeed, 
of  trials 
,  under 
of three 
esses  in 
icts  was 
inican 

ters  of 
them 

|y  though 

iquisition 

[provoked 

lent  of  the 

In  Seville, 
i  were  dis- 
Irhen  Tor- 
Irol  of  the 


frequently  to  condemn,  as  heterodox,  propositions 
actually  derived  from  the  fathers  of  the  church.  The 
prisoners  for  life,  alone,  became  so  numerous  that  it 
was  necessary  to  assign  them  their  own  houses  as  the 
places  of  their  incarceration. 

The  data  for  an  accurate  calculation  of  the  number 
of  victims  sacrificed  by  the  Inquisition  during  this  reign 
are  not  very  satisfactory.  From  such  as  exist,  however, 
Llorente  has  been  led  to  the  most  frightful  results. 
He  computes  that  during  the  eighteen  years  of  Torque- 
mada's  ministry  there  were  no  less  than  10,220  burnt, 
6860  condemned  and  burnt  in  effigy  as  absent  or  dead, 
and  97,321  reconciled  by  various  other  penances; 
affording  an  average  of  more  than  6000  convicted  per- 
sons annually.^  In  this  enormous  sum  of  human  misery 
is  not  included  the  multitude  of  orphans  who,  from  the 
confiscation  of  their  paternal  inheritance,  were  turned 
over  to  indigence  and  vice.ss  Many  of  the  reconciled 
were  afterwards  sentenced  as  relapsed ;  and  the  Curate 
of  Los  Palacios  expresses  the  charitable  wish  that  '*  the 

54  Llorente  afterwards  reduces  this  estimate  to  8800  burnt,  96,504 
otherwise  punished ;  the  diocese  of  Cuenca  being  comprehended  in  that 
of  Murcia.  (Tom.  iv.  p.  252.)  Zurita  says  that,  by  1520,  the  Inquisition 
of  Seville  had  sentenced  more  than  4000  persons  to  be  burnt,  and  30,000 
to  other  punishments.  Another  author,  whom  he  quotes,  carries  up  the 
estimate  of  the  total  condemned  by  this  single  tribunal,  within  the  same 
term  of  time,  to  100,000.  Anales,  tom.  iv.  fol.  ^  <4. 

ss  By  an  article  of  the  primitive  instructions,  the  inquisitors  were 
required  to  set  apart  a  small  portion  of  the  confiscated  estates  for  the 
education  and  Christian  nurture  of  minors,  children  of  the  condemned. 
Llorente  says  that,  in  the  immense  number  of  processes  which  he  had 
occasion  to  consult,  he  met  with  no  instance  of  their  attention  to  the 
fate  of  these  tmfortunate  orphans!  Hist  de  1' Inquisition,  tom.  i. 
chap.  8. 

Q 


I 


362 


THE  INQUISITION. 


whole  accursed  race  of  Jews,  male  and  female,  of  twenty 
years  of  age  and  upwards,  might  be  purified  with  fire 
and  fagot  !"*« 

The  vast  apparatus  of  the  Inquisition  involved  so 
heavy  an  expenditure  that  a  very  small  sum,  compara- 
tively, f(}und  its  way  into  the  exchequer,  to  counter- 
balance the  great  detriment  resulting  to  the  state  from 
the  sacrifice  of  the  most  active  and  skilful  part  of  its 
population.  All  temporal  interests,  however,  were  held 
light  in  comparison  with  the  purgation  of  the  land  from 
heresy;  and  such  augmentations  as  the  revenue  did 
receive,  we  are  assured,  were  conscientiously  devoted 
to  pious  purposes,  and  the  Moorish  war  !^^ 

The  Roman  see,  during  all  this  time,  conducting 
itself  with  its  usual  duplicity,  contrived  to  make  a  gain- 
ful traffic  by  the  sale  of  dispensations  from  the  penalties 
incurred  by  such  as  fell  under  the  ban  of  the  Inquisition, 

56  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap,  44. — Torquemada  waged  war  upon 
freedom  of  thought  in  every  form.  In  1490,  he  caused  several  Hebrew 
Bibles  to  be  publicly  burnt,  and  some  time  after,  more  than  6000 
volumes  of  Oriental  learning,  on  the  imputation  of  Judaism,  sorcery, 
or  heresy,  at  the  autos  da  fe  of  Salamanca,  the  very  nursery  of  science. 
(Llorente,  Hist,  de  I'lnquisition,  tom.  i.  chap.  8,  art.  5.)  This  may 
remind  one  of  the  similar  sentence  passed  by  Lope  de  Barrientos, 
another  Dominican,  about  fifty  years  before,  upon  the  books  of  the 
marquis  of  Villena.  Fortunately  for  the  dawning  literature  of  Spain, 
Isabella  did  not,  as  was  done  by  her  successors,  commit  the  censorship 
of  the  press  to  the  judges  of  the  Holy  Office,  notwithstanding  such  occa- 
sional assumption  of  power  by  the  grand  inquisitor. 

57  Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  part.  2,  cap.  77. — L.  Marineo,  Cosas 
memorables,  fol.  164. — ^The  prodigious  desolation  of  the  land  may  be 
inferred  from  the  estimates,  althor.'^^  somewhat  discordant,  of  deserted 
houses  in  Andalusia.  Garibay  /'oinpendio,  lib.  18,  cap.  17)  puts  these 
at  three  thousand,  Pulgar  ( Reyes  Cat61icos,  part.  2,  cap.  tj^  at  four,  L. 
Marineo  (Cosas  memorables,  fol.  164)  as  high  as  five. 


THE  INQUISITION. 


363 


provided  they  were  rich  enough  to  pay  for  them,  and 
afterwards  revoking  them,  at  the  instance  of  the  Cas- 
tilian  court.  Meanwhile,  the  odium  excited  by  the 
unsparing  rigor  of  Torquemada  raised  up  so  many 
accusations  against  him  that  he  was  thrice  compelled 
to  send  an  agent  to  Rome  to  defend  his  cause  before 
the  pontiff;  until,  at  length,  Alexander  the  Sixth,  in 
1494,  moved  by  these  reiterated  complaints,  appointed 
four  coadjutors,  out  of  a  pretended  regard  to  the  in- 
firmities of  his  age,  to  share  with  him  the  burdens  of  his 
office.  5' 

This  personage,  who  is  entitled  to  so  high  a  rank 
among  those  who  have  been  the  authors  of  unmixed 
evil  to  their  species,  was  permitted  to  reach  a  very  old 
age,  and  to  die  quietly  in  his  bed.  Yet  he  lived  in 
such  constant  apprehension  of  assassination,  that  he  is 
said  to  have  kept  a  reputed  unicorn's  horn  always  on 
his  table,  which  was  imagined  to  have  the  power  of  de- 
tecting and  neutralizing  poisons ;  while,  for  the  more 
complete  protection  of  his  person,  he  was  allowed  an 
escort  of  fifty  horse  and  two  hundred  foot  in  his  pro- 
gresses through  the  kingdom." 

This  man's  zeal  was  of  such  an  extravagant  character 
that  it  may  almost  shelter  itself  under  the  name  of  in- 
sanity. His  history  may  be  thought  to  prove  that  of 
all  human  infirmities,  or  rather  vices,  there  is  none  pro- 
ductive of  more  extensive  mischief  to  society  than 
fanaticism.     The  opposite  principle  of  atheism,  which 


\v 


s8  Llorente,  Hist,  de  1' Inquisition,  torn,  i,  chap.  7,  art.  8;  chap.  8, 
art.  6. 

59  Nic.  Antonio,  Bibliotheca  Vetus,  torn.  ii.  p.  340.— Llorente,  Hist, 
de  rinquisition,  torn.  i.  chap.  8,  art.  6. 


J 


'•I 


I"!! 


«!  \ 


3^4 


THE  INQUISITION. 


refuses  to  recognize  the  most  important  sanctions  to 
virtue,  does  not  necessarily  imply  any  destitution  of  just 
moral  perceptions,  that  is,  of  a  power  of  discriminating 
between  right  and  wrong,  in  its  disciples.  But  fanati- 
cism is  so  far  subversive  of  the  most  established  princi- 
ples of  morality,  that,  under  the  dangerous  maxim, 
•*  For  the  advancement  of  the  faith,  all  means  are  law- 
ful," which  Tasso  has  rightly,  though  perhaps  unde- 
signedly, derived  from  the  spirits  of  hell,*°  it  not  only 
excuses  but  enjoins  the  commission  of  the  most  revolt- 
ing crimes,  as  a  sacred  duty.  The  more  repugnant, 
indeed,  such  crimes  may  be  to  natural  feeling  or  public 
sentiment,  the  greater  their  merit,  from  the  sacrifice 
which  the  commission  of  them  involves.  Many  a 
bloody  page  of  history  attests  the  fact  that  fanaticism 
armed  with  power  is  the  sorest  evil  which  can  befall  a 
nation. 

te  "  Per  la  ih — il  tutto  lice."   Genisalemme  Liberata,  cant.  4,  stanza 
a6. 


Don  Juan  Antonio  Llorente  is  the  only  writer  who  has  succeeded  in 
completely  lifting  the  veil  from  the  dread  mysteries  of  the  Inquisition. 
It  is  obvious  how  very  few  could  be  competent  to  this  task,  since  the 
proceedings  of  the  Holy  Office  were  shrouded  in  such  impenetrable 
secrecy  that  even  the  prisoners  who  were  arraigned  before  it,  as  has 
been  already  stated,  were  kept  in  ignorance  of  their  own  processes. 
Even  such  of  its  functionaries  as  have  at  different  times  pretended  to 
give  its  transactions  to  the  world  have  confined  themselves  to  an  his- 
torical outline,  with  meagre  notices  of  such  pans  of  its  internal  discipline 
as  might  be  safely  disclosed  to  the  public.  Llorente  was  secretary  to 
the  tribunal  of  Madrid  from  1790  to  1792.  His  official  station  conse- 
quently afforded  him  every  facility  for  an  acquaintance  with  the  most 
recondite  affairs  of  the  Inquisition ;  and  on  its  suppression  at  the  close 


THE  INQUISITION. 


365 


of  1808  he  devoted  several  years  to  a  careful  investigation  of  the  registers 
of  the  tribunals,  both  of  the  capital  and  the  provinces,  as  well  as  of  such 
other  original  documents  contained  within  their  archives  as  had  not 
hitherto  been  opened  to  the  light  of  day.  In  the  progress  of  his  work 
he  has  anatomized  the  most  odious  features  of  the  institution  with  un- 
sparing severity ;  and  his  reflections  are  warmed  with  a  generous  and 
enlightened  spirit,  certainly  not  to  have  been  expected  in  an  ex-in- 
quisitor. The  arrangement  of  his  immense  mass  of  materials  is  indeed 
somewhat  faulty,  and  the  work  might  be  recast  in  a  more  popular  form, 
especially  by  means  of  a  copious  retrenchment.  With  all  its  subordinate 
defects,  however,  it  is  entitled  to  the  credit  of  being  the  most,  indeed 
the  only,  authentic  history  of  the  Modem  Inquisition ;  exhibiting  its 
minutest  forms  of  practice,  and  the  insidious  policy  by  which  they  were 
directed,  from  the  origin  of  the  institution  down  to  its  temporary  abo- 
lition. It  well  deserves  to  be  studied,  as  the  record  of  the  most  humi- 
liating triumph  which  fanaticism  has  ever  been  able  to  obtain  over 
human  reason,  and  that,  too,  during  the  most  civilized  periods  and  in 
the  most  civilized  portion  of  the  world.  The  persecutions  endured  by 
the  unfortunate  author  of  the  work  prove  that  the  embers  of  this  fanati- 
cism may  be  rekindled  too  easily,  even  in  the  present  century. 


_ 


If' 


i 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

REVIEW  OF  THE  POLITICAL  AND  INTELLECTUAL  CONDI- 
TION OF  THE  SPANISH  ARABS  PREVIOUS  TO  THE  WAR 
OF  GRANADA. 

Conquest  of  Spain  by  the  Arabs. — Corcovan  Empire. — High  Civiliza- 
tion and  Prosperity. — Its  Dismembcrinont. — Kingdom  of  Granada. 
— Luxurious  and  Chivalrous  Characttir. — Literature  of  the  Spanish 
Arabs. — Progress  in  Science. — Historical  Merits. — Useful  Discov- 
eries.— Poetry  and  Romance. — Influence  on  the  Spaniards. 

We  have  now  arrived  at  the  commencement  of  the 
famous  war  of  Granada,  which  terminated  in  the  sub- 
version of  the  Ari'ian  empire  in  Spain,  after  it  had 
subsisted  for  nearly  eight  centuries,  and  with  the  con- 
sequent restoration  to  the  Castilian  crown  of  the  fairest 
portion  of  its  ancient  domain.  In  order  to  a  better 
understanding  of  the  character  of  the  Spanish  Arabs, 
or  Moors,  who  exercised  an  important  influence  on 
that  of  their  Christian  neighbors,  the  present  chapter 
will  be  devoted  to  a  consideration  of  their  previous 
history  in  the  Peninsula,  where  they  probably  reached 
a  higher  degree  of  civilization  than  in  any  other  part 
of  the  world.* 

It  is  not  necessary  to  dwell  upon  the  causes  of  the 
brilliant  successes  of  Mahometan  ism  at  its  outset, — the 
dexterity  with  which,  unlike  all  other  religions,  it  was 

*  See  Introduction,  Section  i,  Note  2,  of  this  History. 
(366) 


m 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


3*7 


raised  upon,  not  against,  the  principles  and  prejudices 
of  preceding  sects;  the  military  spirit  and  discipline 
which  it  established  among  all  classes,  so  that  the  multi- 
farious nations  who  embraced  it  assumed  the  appear- 
ance of  one  vast,  well-ordered  camp;*  the  union  of 
ecclesiastical  with  civil  authority  intrusted  to  the  caliphs, 
which  enabled  them  to  control  opinions  as  absolutely 
as  the  Roman  pontiffs  in  their  most  despotic  hour;'  or, 

>  The  Koran,  in  addition  to  the  repeated  assurances  of  Paradise  to 
the  martyr  who  falls  in  battle,  contains  the  regulations  of  a  precise 
military  code.  Military  service  in  some  shape  or  other  is  exacted  from 
all.  The  terms  to  be  prescribed  to  the  enemy  and  the  vanquished,  the 
division  of  the  spoil,  the  seasons  of  lawful  truce,  the  conditions  on  which 
the  comparatively  small  number  of  exempts  are  permitted  to  remain  at 
home,  are  accurately  defined.  (Sale's  Koran,  chap.  2,  8,  9,  et  alibi.) 
When  the  algihed,  or  Mahometan  crusade,  which,  in  its  general  design 
and  immunities,  bore  a  close  resemblance  to  the  Christian,  was  preached 
in  the  mosque,  every  true  believer  was  bound  to  repair  to  the  standard 
of  his  chief.  "  The  holy  war,"  says  one  of  the  early  Saracen  generals, 
"  is  the  ladder  of  Paradise.  The  Apostle  of  God  styled  himself  the  son 
of  the  sword.  He  loved  to  repose  in  the  shadow  of  banners  and  on  the 
field  of  battle." 

3  The  successors,  caliphs  or  vicars,  as  they  were  styled,  of  Mahomet, 
represented  both  his  spiritual  and  temporal  authority.  Their  office 
involved  almost  equally  ecclesiastical  and  military  functions.  It  was 
their  duty  to  lead  the  army  in  battle,  and  on  the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca. 
They  were  to  preach  a  sermon  and  offer  up  public  prayers  in  the 
mosques  every  Friday.  Many  of  their  prerogatives  resemble  those 
assumed  anciently  by  the  popes.  They  conferred  investitures  on  the 
Moslem  princes  by  the  symbol  of  a  ring,  a  sword,  or  a  standard.  They 
complimented  them  with  the  titles  of  "  defender  of  the  faith,"  "  column 
of  religion,"  and  the  like.  The  proudest  potentate  held  the  bridle  of 
their  mules,  and  paid  his  homage  by  touching  their  threshold  with  his 
forehead.  The  authority  of  the  caliphs  was  in  this  manner  founded  on 
opinion  no  less  than  on  power ;  and  their  ordinances,  however  frivolous 
or  iniquitous  in  themselves,  being  enforced,  as  it  were,  by  a  divine  sanc- 
tion, became  laws  which  it  was  sacrilege  to  disobey.  See  D'Herbelot, 
Biblioth^quc  Orientale  (La  Haye,  1777-9),  voce  Khalifah. 


368 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


lastly,  the  peculiar  adaptation  of  the  doctrines  of  Ma 
hornet  to  the  character  of  the  wild  tribes  among  whom 
they  were  preached.^  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  these 
latter,  within  a  century  after  the  coming  of  their  apostle, 
having  succeeded  in  establishing  their  religion  over 
vast  regions  in  Asia,  and  on  the  northern  shores  of 
Africa,  arrived  before  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  which, 
though  a  temporary,  were  destined  to  prove  an  ineffect- 
ual bulwark  for  Christendom. 

The  causes  which  have  been  currently  assigned  for 
the  invasion  and  conquest  of  Spain,  even  by  the  most 
credible  modem  historians,  have  scarcely  any  founda- 
tion in  contemporary  records.  The  true  causes  are  to 
be  found  in  the  rich  spoils  offered  by  the  Gothic 
monarchy,  and  in  the  thirst  of  enterprise  in  the  Sara- 
cens, which  their  long-uninterrupted  career  of  victory 
seems  to  have  sharpened,  rather  than  satisfied.'    The 

4  The  character  of  the  Arabs,  before  the  introduction  of  Islam,  like 
that  of  most  rude  nations,  is  to  be  gathered  from  their  national  songs 
and  romances.  The  poems  suspended  at  Mecca,  familiar  to  us  in  the 
elq^t  version  of  Sir  William  Jones,  and,  still  more,  the  recent  trans- 
lation of  "  Antar," — a  composition  indeed  of  the  age  of  Al  Raschid,  but 
wholly  devoted  to  the  primitive  Bedouins, — present  us  with  a  lively  pic- 
ture of  their  peculiar  habits,  which,  notwithstanding  the  influence  of  a 
temporary  civUitation,  may  be  thought  to  bear  great  resemblance  to 
those  of  their  descendants  at  the  present  day. 

s  Startling  as  it  may  be,  there  is  scarcely  a  vestige  of  any  of  the  par- 
ticulars circumstantially  narrated  by  the  national  historians  (Mariana, 
Zurita.  Abarca,  Moret,  etc.)  as  the  immediate  causes  of  the  subversion 
of  Spain,  to  be  found  in  the  chronicles  of  the  period.  No  intimation 
of  the  persecution,  or  of  the  treason,  of  the  two  sons  of  Witiza  is  to  be 
met  with  in  any  Spanish  writer,  as  far  as  I  know,  until  nearly  two  cen- 
turies after  the  conquest ;  none  earlier  than  this,  of  the  defection  of 
archbishop  Oppas  during  the  fatal  conflict  near  Xerez ;  and  none,  of 
the  tragical  amouis  of  Roderic  and  the  revenge  of  Count  Julian,  before 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


369 


fatal  battle  which  terminated  with  the  slaughter  of  King 
Roderic  and  the  flower  of  his  nobility  was  fought  in  the 
summer  of  711,  on  a  plain  washed  by  the  Guadalete 
near  Xerez,  about  two  leagues  distant  from  Cadiz.*  The 


the  writers  of  the  thirteenth  century.  Nothing,  indeed,  can  be  more 
jejune  than  the  original  narratives  of  the  invasion.  The  continuation 
of  the  Chronicon  del  Biclarense,  and  the  Chronicon  dc  Isidoro  Pacense 
or  de  Beja,  which  are  contained  in  the  voluminous  collection  of  Florez 
(Espaila  sagrada,  torn.  vi.  and  viii.),  afford  the  only  histories  contem- 
porary with  the  event.  Conde  is  mistaken  in  his  assertion  (Domina- 
cion  de  los  Arabes,  Pr61.  p.  vii.)  that  the  work  of  Isidore  de  Beja  was 
the  only  narrative  written  during  that  period.  Spain  had  not  the  pen 
of  a  Bede  or  an  Eginhart  to  describe  the  memorable  catastrophe.  But 
the  few  and  meagre  touches  of  the  contemporary  chroniclers  have  left 
ample  scope  for  conjectural  history,  which  has  been  most  industriously 
improved.  The  reports,  according  to  Conde  (Dominacion  de  los 
Arabes,  torn.  i.  p.  36),  greedily  circulated  among  the  Saracens,  of  the 
magnificence  and  general  prosperity  of  the  Gothic  monarchy,  may 
sufficiently  account  for  its  invasion  by  an  enemy  flushed  with  uninter- 
rupted conquests,  and  whose  fanatical  ambition  was  well  illustrated  by 
one  of  their  own  generals,  who,  on  reaching  the  western  extremity  of 
Africa,  plunged  his  horse  into  the  Atlantic,  and  sighed  for  other  shores 
on  which  to  plant  the  banners  of  Islam.  See  Cardonne,  Histoire  de 
I'Afrique  et  de  I'Elspagne  sous  la  Domination  des  Arabes  (Paris,  1765), 
tom.  i.  p.  37. 

'  The  laborious  diligence  of  Masdeu  may  be  thought  to  have  settled 
the  epoch,  about  which  so  much  learned  dust  has  been  raised.  The 
fourteenth  volume  of  his  "  Historia  critica  de  Espaiia  y  de  la  Cultura 
Espaflola"  (Madrid,  1783-1805)  contains  an  accurate  table,  by  which 
the  minutest  dates  of  the  Mahometan  lunar  year  are  adjusted  by  those 
of  the  Christian  era.  The  fall  of  Roderic  on  the  field  of  battle  is  at- 
tested by  both  the  domestic  chroniclers  of  that  period,  as  well  as  by 
the  Saracens.  (Incerti  Auctoris  Additio  ad  Joannem  Biclarensem, 
apud  Florez,  Espaiia  sagrada,  tom.  vi.  p.  430. — Isidori  Pacensis  Epis- 
copi  Chronicon,  apud  Florez,  Espaila  sagrada,  tom.  viii.  p.  200.)  The 
tales  of  the  ivory  and  marble  chariot,  of  the  gallant  steed  Orelia  and 
magnifioont  vestments  of  Roderic,  discovered  after  the  fight  on  the 
banks  of  the  Guadilete,  of  his  probable  escape  and  subsequent  seclu* 
Vol.  I. — 24  Q* 


\  \ 


570 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


vl 


\ 


ii 

if  ; 
If 


Goths  appear  never  to  have  afterwards  rallied  under 
one  head,  but  their  broken  detachments  made  many  a 
gallant  stand  in  such  strong  positions  as  were  afforded 
throughout  the  kingdom;  so  that  nearly  three  years 
elapsed  before  the  final  achievement  of  the  conquest. 
The  policy  of  the  conquerors,  after  making  the  requi- 
site allowance  for  the  evils  necessarily  attending  such 
an  invasion,'  may  be  considered  liberal.  Such  of  the 
Christians  as  chose  were  permitted  to  remain  in  the 
conquered  territory  in  undisturbed  possession  of  their 
property.  They  were  allowed  to  worship  in  their  own 
way;  to  be  governed,  within- prescribed  limits,  by  their 
own  laws ;  to  fill  certain  civil  offices,  and  serve  in  the 
army;  their  women  were  invited  to  intermarry  with 
the  conquerors;'  and,  in  short,  they  were  condemned 
to  no  other  legal  badge  of  servitude  than  the  payment 
of  somewhat  heavier  imposts  than  those  exacted  from 
their  Mahometan  brethren.     It  is  true  the  Christians 

sion  among  the  mountains  of  Portugal,  which  have  been  thought  worthy 
of  Spanish  histoiy,  have  found  a  much  more  appropriate  place  in  the 
romantic  national  ballads,  as  well  as  in  the  more  elaborate  productions 
of  Scott  and  Southey. 

7  "  Whatever  curses,"  says  an  eye-witness,  whose  meagre  diction  is 
quickened  on  this  occasion  into  something  like  sublimity, — "  whatever 
curses  were  denounced  by  the  prophets  of  old  against  Jerusalem,  what- 
ever fell  upon  ancient  Babylon,  whatever  miseries  Rome  inflicted  upon 
the  glorious  company  of  the  martyrs,  all  these  were  visited  upon  the 
once  happy  and  prosperous,  but  now  desolated,  Spain."  Pacensis 
Chronicon,  apud  Florez,  Espafia  sagrada,  tom.  viii.  p.  292. 

8  The  frequency  of  this  alliance  may  be  inferred  from  an  extraordi- 
nary, though  doubtless  extravagant,  statement  cited  by  Zurita.  The 
ambassadors  of  James  II.  of  Aragon,  in  1311,  represented  to  the 
sovereign  pontiff,  Clement  V.,  that  of  the  200,000  souls  which  then 
composed  the  population  of  Granada  there  were  not  more  than  500 
of  pure  Moorish  descent.     Anales,  tom.  iv.  fol.  314. 


lordi- 

The 

the 

then 

500 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


;7i 


were  occasionally  exposed  to  suffering  from  the  caprices 
of  despotism,  and,  it  may  be  added,  of  popular  fanati- 
cism.' But,  on  the  whole,  their  condition  may  sustain 
an  advantageous  comparison  with  that  of  any  Christian 
people  under  the  Mussulman  dominion  of  later  times, 
and  affords  a  striking  contrast  with  that  of  our  Saxon 
ancestors  after  the  Norman  conquest,  which  suggests  an 
obvious  parallel  in  many  of  its  circumstances  to  the 
Saracen." 

After  the  further  progress  of  the  Arabs  in  Europe  had 
been  checked  by  the  memorable  defeat  at  Tours,  their 
energies,  no  longer  allowed  to  expand  in  the  career  of 
conquest,  recoiled  on  themselves,  and  speedily  pro- 
duced the  dismemberment  of  their  overgrown  empire. 
Spain  was  the  first  of  the  provinces  which  fell  off.  The 
family  of  Omeya,  under  whom  this  revolution  was 
effected,  continued  to  occupy  her  throne  as  independent 
princes  from  the  middle  of  the  eighth  to  the  close  of 
the  eleventh  century,  a  period  which  forms  the  most 
honorable  portion  of  her  Arabian  annals. 

9  The  fairous  persecutions  of  Cordova  under  the  reigns  of  Abder- 
rahman  II.  und  his  son,  which,  to  judge  from  the  tone  of  Castilian 
waiters,  might  vie  with  those  of  Nero  and  Diocletian,  are  admitted  by 
Morales  (Obras,  torn.  x.  p,  74)  to  have  occasioned  the  destruction  of 
only  forty  individuals.  Most  of  these  unhappy  fanatics  solicited  the 
crown  of  martyrdom  by  an  open  violation  of  the  Mahometan  laws  and 
usages.  The  details  are  given  by  Florez  in  the  tenth  volume  of  his 
collection, 

'o  Bleda,  ®or6nica  de  los  Moros  de  Espafia  (Valencia,  1618),  lib.  2, 
cap.  16, 17. — Cardonne,  Hist,  de  I'Afrique  et  de  I'Espagne,  tom.  i.  pp.  83 
et  seq.,  179. — Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  Pr61.  p.  vii.  and  tom. 
i.  pp.  29-54,75,  87. — Morales,  Obras,  tom.  vi.  pp.  407-417;  tom.  vii. 
pp.  262-264. — Florez,  Espafia  sagrada,  tom.  x.  pp.  237-270. — Fuero 
Juzgo,  Int.  p.  40. 


H 


*. 


11 

A 


372 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS, 


L 


9 


The  new  government  was  modelled  on  the  Eastern 
caliphate.  Freedom  shows  itself  under  a  variety  of 
forms;  while  despotism,  at  least  in  the  institutions 
founded  on  the  Koran,  seems  to  wear  but  one.  The 
sovereign  was  the  depositary  of  all  power,  the  fountain 
of  honor,  the  sole  arbiter  of  life  and  fortune.  He  styled 
himself  "Commander  of  the  Faithful,"  and,  like  the 
caliphs  of  the  East,  assumed  an  entire  spiritual  as  well 
as  temporal  supremacy.  The  country  was  distributed 
into  six  capitanias,  or  provinces,  each  under  the  ad- 
ministration of  a  waliy  or  governor,  with  subordinate 
officers,  to  whom  was  intrusted  a  more  immediate  juris- 
diction over  the  principal  cities.  The  immense  authority 
and  pretensions  of  these  petty  satraps  became  a  fruitful 
source  of  rebellion  in  later  times.  The  caliph  admin- 
istered the  government  with  the  advice  of  his  mexuar, 
or  council  of  state,  composed  of  his  principal  cadi's  and 
hagibSf  or  secretaries.  The  office  of  prime  minister,  or 
chief  hagib,  corresponded,  in  the  nature  and  variety 
of  its  functions,  with  that  of  a  Turkish  grand  vizier. 
The  caliph  reserved  to  himself  the  right  of  selecting 
his  successor  from  among  his  numerous  progeny ;  and 
this  adoption  was  immediately  ratified  by  an  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  heir  apparent  from  the  principal 
officers  of  state." 

The  princes  of  the  blood,  instead  of  being  condemned, 
as  in  Turkey,  to  waste  their  youth  in  the  seclusion  of  the 
harem,  were  intrusted  to  the  care  of  learned  men,  to  be 
instructed  in  the  duties  befitting  their  station.  They 
were  encouraged  to  visit  the  academies,  which  were 

<*  Conde,  Domin  cion  de  los  Arabes,  part.  2,  cap.  1-46. 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


373 


particularly  celebrated  in  Cordova,  where  they  ming'.  sd 
in  disputation,  and  frequently  carried  away  the  prizes 
of  poetry  and  eloquence.  Their  riper  years  exhibited 
such  fruits  as  were  to  be  expected  from  their  early  edu- 
cation. The  race  of  the  Omeyades  need  not  shrink 
from  a  comparison  with  any  other  dynasty  of  equal 
length  in  modern  Europe.  Many  of  them  amused  their 
leisure  with  poetical  composition,  of  which  numerous 
examples  are  preserved  in  Conde's  History;  and  some 
left  elaborate  works  of  learning,  which  have  maintained 
a  permanent  reputation  with  Arabian  scholars.  Their 
long  reigns,  the  first  ten  of  which  embrace  a  period  of 
two  centuries  and  a  half,  their  peaceful  deaths,  and 
unbroken  line  of  succession  in  the  same  family  for  so 
many  years,  show  that  their  authority  must  have  been 
founded  in  the  affections  of  their  subjects.  Indeed, 
they  seem,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  to  have  ruled 
over  them  with  a  truly  patriarchal  sway;  and,  on  the 
event  of  their  deaths,  the  people,  bathed  in  tears,  are 
described  as  accompanying  their  relics  to  the  tomb, 
where  the  ceremony  was  concluded  with  a  public  eulogy 
on  the  virtues  of  the  deceased,  by  his  son  and  suc- 
cessor." This  pleasing  moral  picture  affords  a  strong 
contrast  to  the  sanguinary  scenes  which  so  often  attend 
the  transmission  of  the  sceptre  fr'^m  one  generation  to 
another  among  the  nations  of  the  East.'' 

The  Spanish  caliphs  supported  a  large  military  force, 

i>  Diodorus  Siculus,  noticing  a  similar  usage  at  the  funerals  of  the 
Egyptian  kings,  remarks  on  the  disinterested  and  honest  nature  of  the 
homage,  when  the  object  of  it  is  beyond  the  reach  of  flattery. — Diod., 
i.  70  et  seq. 

*3  Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  ubi  supra. — Masdeu,  Historia 
critica,  tomTxiii.  pp.  178,  187. 


374 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


11 


frequently  keeping  two  or  three  armies  in  the  field  at 
the  same  time.  The  flower  of  these  forces  was  a  body- 
guard, gradually  raised  to  twelve  thousand  men,  one- 
third  of  them  Christians,  superbly  equipped,  and 
officered  by  members  of  the  royal  family.  Their  feuds 
with  the  Eastern  calip!  s  and  the  Barbary  pirates  required 
them  also  to  maintain  a  respectable  navy,  which  was 
fitted  out  from  the  numerous  dock-yards  that  lined  the 
coast  from  Cadiz  to  Tarragona. 

The  munificence  of  the  Omeyades  was  most  osten- 
tatiously displayed  in  their  public  edifices,  palaces, 
mosques,  hospitals,  and  in  the  construction  of  commo- 
dious quays,  fountains,  bridges,  and  aqueducts,  which, 
penetrating  the  sides  of  the  mountains,  or  sweeping 
on  lofty  arches  across  the  valleys,  rivalled  in  their 
proportions  the  monuments  of  ancient  Rome.  These 
works,  which  were  scattered  more  or  less  over  all  the 
provinces,  contributed  especially  to  the  embellishment 
of  Cordova,  the  capital  of  the  empire.  The  delightful 
situation  of  this  city,  in  the  midst  of  a  cultivated  plain 
washed  by  the  waters  of  the  Guadalquivir,  made  it 
very  early  the  favorite  residence  of  the  Arabs,  who 
loved  to  surround  their  houses,  ev6n  in  the  cities,  with 
groves  and  refreshing  fountains,  so  delightful  to  the 
imagination  of  a  wanderer  of  the  desert.'*    The  public 


H  The  same  taste  is  noticed  at  the  present  day,  by  a  traveller  whose 
pictures  glow  with  the  warm  colors  of  the  East :  "  Aussi  dfes  que  vous 
approchez,  en  Europe  ou  en  Asie,  d'une  terre  poss^d^e  par  les  Musul- 
mans,  vous  la  reconnaissez  de  loin  au  riche  et  sombre  voile  de  verdure 
qui  flotte  gracieusement  ?ur  elle: — des  arbres  pour  s'asseoir  k  leur 
ombre,  des  fontaines  jaillissantes  pour  rever  k  leur  bruit,  du  silence  et 
des  mosquees  aux  legcrs  minarets,  s'^levant  k  chaque  pas  du  sein 
d'une  terre  pieuse."     Lamartine,  Voyage  en  Orient,  torn.  i.  p.  17a. 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


375 


squares  and  private  court-yards  sparkled  withy>/j  (Teau, 
fed  by  copious  streams  from  the  Sierra  Morena,  which, 
besides  supplying  nine  hundred  public  baths,  were  con- 
ducted into  the  interior  of  the  edifices,  where  they 
diffused  a  grateful  coolness  over  the  sleeping-apart- 
ments of  their  luxurious  inhabitants.^ 

Without  adverting  to  that  magnificent  freak  of  the 
caliphs,  the  construction  of  the  palace  of  Azahra,  of 
which  not  a  vestige  now  exists,  we  may  form  a  sufficient 
notion  of  the  taste  and  magnificence  of  this  era  from 
the  remains  of  the  far-famed  mosque,  now  the  cathedral 
of  Cordova.  This  building,  which  still  covers  more 
ground  than  any  other  church  in  Christendom,  was 
esteemed  the  third  in  sanctity  by  the  Mahometan  world, 
being  inferior  only  to  the  Alaksa  of  Jerusalem  and  the 
temple  of  Mecca.  Most  of  its  ancient  glories  have 
indeed  long  since  departed.  The  rich  bronze  which 
embossed  its  gates,  the  myriads  of  lamps  which  illu- 
minated its  aisles,  have  disappeared;  and  its  interior 
roof  of  odoriferous  and  curiously  carved  wood  has  been 
cut  up  into  guitars  and  snuff-boxes.  But  its  thousand 
columns  of  variegated  marble  still  remain;  and  its 
general  dimensions,  notwithstanding  some  loose  asser- 
tions to  the  contrary,  seem  to  be  much  the  same  as  they 
were  in  the  time  of  the  Saracens.  European  critics, 
however,  condemn  its  most  elaborate  beauties  as  ''heavy 
and  barbarous."  Its  celebrated  portals  are  pronounced 
"diminutive,  and  in  very  bad  taste."  Its  throng  of 
pillars  gives  it  the  air  of  "  a  park  rather  than  a  temple. 


i\ 


>> 


»s  Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  torn.  i.  pp.  199,  265,  284,  285, 
417,  446,  447,  et  alibi. — Cardonne,  Hist,  de  I'Afrique  et  de  I'Elspagne, 
torn.  i.  pp.  227-230  et  scq. 


II 


! 


'II 


I! 

i 


376 


rJ/£  SPANISH  ARABS. 


and  the  whole  is  made  still  more  incongruous  by  the 
unequal  length  of  their  shafts,  being  grotesquely  com- 
pensated >>y  a  proportionate  variation  of  size  in  their 
bases  and  capitals,  rudely  fashioned  after  the  Corinthian 
order," 

But  if  all  this  gives  a  contemptible  idea  of  the  taste 
of  the  Saracens  at  this  period,  which  indeed,  in  archi- 
tecture, seems  to  have  been  far  inferior  to  that  of  the 
later  princes  of  Granada,  we  cannot  but  be  astonished 
at  the  adequacy  of  their  resources  to  carry  such  mag- 
nificent designs  into  execution.  Their  revenue,  we 
are  told  in  explanation,  amounted  to  eight  millions 
of  mitcales  of  gold,  or  nearly  six  millions  sterling ;  a 
sum  fifteen-fold  greater  than  that  which  William  the 
Conqueror,  in  the  subsequent  century,  was  able  to  ex- 
tort from  his  subjects,  with  all  the  ingenuity  of  feudal 
exaction.  The  tone  of  exaggeration  which  distinguishes 
the  Asiatic  writers  entitles  them  perhaps  to  little  con- 
fidence in  their  numerical  estimates.  This  immense 
wealth,  however,  is  predicated  of  other  Mahometan 
princes  of  that  age ;  and  their  vast  superiority  over  the 
Christian  states  of  the  north,  in  arts  and  effective 
industry,  may  well  account  for  a  corresponding  supe- 
riority in  their  resources. 

The  revenue  of  the  Cordovan  sovereigns  was  derived 
from  the  fifth  of  the  spoil  taken  in  battle,  an  important 

»6  Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  torn,  i.  pp.  211,  212,  226. — 
Swinburne,  Travels  through  Spain  (London,  1787),  let.  35. — Xerif 
Aledris,  conocido  por  El  Nubiense,  Descripcion  de  EspaSa,  con  Tra- 
duccion  y  Notas  de  Conde  (Madrid,  1799),  pp.  161,  162. — Morales, 
Obras,  torn.  x.  p.  61. — Chenier,  Recherches  historiques  sur  les  Maures, 
et  Histoire  de  I'Empire  de  Maroc  (Paris,  1787),  torn.  ii.  p.  312. — La« 
borde,  Itin^raire,  torn.  iii.  p.  226. 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


Z11 


item  in  an  age  of  unintermitting  war  and  rapine ;  from 
the  enormous  exaction  of  one-ten*  i  of  the  produce  of 
commerce,  husbandry,  flocks,  and  mines;  from  a  capi- 
tation tax  on  Jews  and  Christians;  and  from  certain 
tolls  on  the  transportation  of  goods.  They  engaged  in 
commerce  on  their  own  account,  and  drew  from  mines, 
which  belonged  to  the  crown,  a  conspicuous  part  of  their 
income.  *' 

Before  the  discovery  of  America,  Spain  was  to  the 
rest  of  Europe  what  her  colonies  have  since  become, 
the  great  source  of  mineral  wealth.  The  Carthaginians, 
and  the  Romans  afterwards,  regularly  drew  from  her 
large  masses  of  the  precious  metals.  Pliny,  who  resided 
some  time  in  the  country,  relates  that  three  of  her 
provinces  were  said  to  have  annually  yielded  the  in- 
credible quantity  of  sixty  thousand  pounds  of  gold.'' 
The  Arabs,  with  their  usual  activity,  penetrated  into 
these  arcana  of  wealth.  Abundant  traces  of  their  labors 
are  still  to  be  met  with  along  the  barren  ridge  of 
mountains  that  covers  the  north  of  Andalusia ;  and  the 
diligent  Bowles  has  enumerated  no  less  than  five  thou- 

»7  Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  torn.  i.  pp.  214,  228,  270,  611. — 
Masdeu,  Historiacritica,  torn.  xiii.  p.  118. — Cardonne,  Hist.  del'Afrique 
et  de  I'Espagne,  torn.  i.  pp.  338-343. — Casiri  quotes  from  an  Arabic  his- 
torian the  conditions  on  which  Abderrahman  I.  proffered  his  alliance 
to  the  Christian  princes  of  Spain,  viz.  the  annual  tribute  of  10,000 
ounces  of  gold,  to,ooo  pounds  of  silver,  10,000  horses,  etc.  etc.  The 
absurdity  of  this  story,  inconsiderately  repeated  by  historians,  if  any 
argument  were  necessary  to  prove  it,  becomes  sufficiently  manifest 
from  the  fact  that  the  instrument  is  dated  in  the  I42d  year  of  the 
Hegira,  being  a  little  more  than  fifty  years  after  the  conquest.  See 
Bibliotheca  Arabico-Hispana  Escurialensis  (Matriti,  1760),  tom.  ii. 
p.  104. 

«8  Hist.  Naturalis,  lib.  33,  cap.  4. 


If 


[? 


Mi 


378 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


sand  of  their  excavations  in  the  kingdom  or  district 
of  Jaen.*9 

But  the  best  mine  of  the  caliphs  was  in  the  industry 
and  sobriety  of  their  subjects.  The  Arabian  colonies 
have  been  properly  classed  among  the  agricultural. 
Their  acquaintance  with  the  science  of  husbandry  is 
shown  in  their  voluminous  treatises  on  the  subject,  and 
in  the  monuments  which  they  have  everywhere  left  of 
their  peculiar  culture.  The  system  of  irrigation,  which 
has  so  long  fertilized  the  south  of  Spain,  was  derived 
from  them.  They  introduced  into  the  Peninsula  various 
tropical  plants  and  vegetables,  whose  cultivation  has 
deoarted  with  them.  Sugar,  which  the  modern  Spaniards 
have  been  obliged  to  import  from  foreign  nations  in 
large  quantities  annually  for  their  domestic  consump- 
tion, until  within  the  last  half-century,  when  they  have 
been  supplied  by  their  island  of  Cuba,  constituted  one 
of  the  principal  exports  of  the  Spanish  Arabs.  The  silk 
manufacture  was  carried  on  by  them  extensively.  The 
Nubian  geographer,  in  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth 
century,  enumerates  six  hundred  villages  in  Jaen  as 
engaged  in  it,  at  a  time  when  it  was  known  to  the 
Europeans  only  from  their  circuitous  traffic  with  the 
Greek  empire.  This,  together  with  fine  fabrics  of  cotton 
and  woollen,  formed  the  staple  of  an  active  commerce 
with  the  Levant,  and  especially  with  Constantinople, 
whence  they  were  again  diffused,  by  means  of  the 
caravans  of  the  North,  over  the  comparatively  barbarous 
countries  of  Christendom. 

The  population  kept  pace  with  this  general  prosperity 

«9  Introduction  \  I'Histoire  naturelle  de  I'Espagne,  traduite  par 
Flavigny  (Paris,  1776),  p.  411. 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


379 


of  the  country.  It  would  appear,  from  a  census  insti- 
tuted at  Cordova  at  the  close  of  the  tenth  century,  that 
there  were  at  that  time  in  it  six  hundred  temples  and 
two  hundred  thousand  dwelling-houses ;  many  of  these 
latter  being,  probably,  mere  huts  or  cabins,  and  occu- 
pied by  separate  families.  Without  placing  too  much 
reliance  on  any  numerical  statements,  however,  we  may 
give  due  weight  to  the  inference  of  an  intelligent  writer, 
who  remarks  that  their  minute  cultivation  of  the  soil, 
the  cheapness  of  their  labor,  their  particular  attention 
to  the  most  nutritious  esculents,  many  of  them  such 
as  would  be  rejected  by  Europeans  at  this  day,  are 
indicative  of  a  crowded  population,  like  that,  perhaps, 
which  swarms  over  Japan  or  China,  where  the  same 
economy  is  necessarily  resorted  to  for  the  mere  sus- 
tenance of  life." 

Whatever  consequence  a  nation  may  derive,  in  its 
own  age,  from  physical  resources,  its  intellectual  de- 
velopment will  form  the  subject  of  deepest  interest  to 
posterity.     The  most  flourishing  periods  of  both  not 

*  See  a  sensible  essay  by  the  Abb^  Correa  da  Serra  on  the  hus- 
bandry of  the  Spanish  Arabs,  contained  in  torn.  i.  of  Archives  litt^raires 
de  I'Europe  (Paris,  1804). — Masdeu,  Historia  critica,  tonj.  xiii.  pp.  115, 
117,  127,  131. — Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  torn.  i.  cap.  44. — 
Casiri,  Bibliotheca  Escurialensis,  torn.  i.  p.  338. — An  absurd  story  has 
been  transcribed  from  Cardonne,  with  little  hesitation,  by  almost  every 
succeeding  writer  upon  this  subject.  According  to  him  ( H  ist.  de  1' Afnque 
et  del'Espagne,  tom.  i.p.  338),  "  the banksoftheGuadalquivir  were  lined 
with  no  less  than  twelve  thousand  villages  and  hamlets."  The  length 
of  the  river,  not  exceeding  three  hundred  miles,  would  scarcely  afford 
room  for  the  same  number  of  farm-houses.  Conde's  version  of  the 
Arabic  passage  represents  twelve  thousand  hamlets,  farms,  and  castles 
to  have  "  been  scattered  over  the  regions  watered  by  the  Guadalquivir ;" 
indicating  by  this  indefinite  statement  nothing  more  than  the  extreme 
populousness  of  the  province  of  Andalusia. 


38o 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


unfrequently  coincide.  Thus  the  reigns  of  Abderrah- 
man  the  Third,  Alhakem  the  Second,  and  the  regency 
of  Almanzor,  embracing  the  latter  half  of  the  tenth 
century,  during  which  the  Spanish  Arabs  reached  their 
highest  political  importance,  may  be  regarded  as  the 
period  of  their  highest  civilization  under  the  Omeyades, 
although  the  impulse  then  given  carried  them  forward 
to  still  further  advances  in  the  turbulent  times  which 
followed.  This  beneficent  impulse  is,  above  all,  im- 
putable to  Alhakem.  He  was  one  of  those  rare  beings 
whr  have  employed  the  awful  engine  of  despotism  in 
promoting  the  happiness  and  intelligence  of  his  species. 
In  his  elegant  tastes,  appetite  for  knowledge,  and  munifi- 
cent patronage,  he  may  be  compared  with  the  best  of 
the  Medici.  He  assembled  the  eminent  scholars  of  his 
time,  both  natives  and  foreigners,  at  his  court,  where 
he  employed  them  in  the  most  confidential  offices.  He 
converted  his  palace  into  an  academy,  making  it  the 
familiar  resort  of  men  of  letters,  at  whose  conferences 
he  personally  assisted  in  his  intervals  of  leisure  from 
public  duty.  He  selected  the  most  suitable  persons  for 
the  composition  of  works  on  civil  and  natural  history, 
requiring  the  prefects  of  his  provinces  and  cities  to  fur- 
nish, as  far  as  possible,  the  necessary  intelligence.  He 
was  a  diligent  student,  and  left  many  of  the  volumes 
which  he  read  enriched  with  his  commentaries.  Above 
all,  he  was  intent  upon  the  acquisition  of  an  extensive 
library.  He  invited  illustrious  foreigners  to  send  him 
their  works,  and  munificently  recompensed  them.  No 
donative  was  so  grateful  to  him  as  a  book.  He  em- 
ployed agents  in  Egypt,  Syria,  Irak,  and  Persia,  for 
collecting  and  transcribing  the  rarest  manuscripts ;  and 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


381 


his  vessels  returned  freighted  with  cargoes  more  precious 
than  the  spices  of  the  East.  In  this  way  he  amassed  a 
magnificent  collection,  which  was  distributed,  accord- 
ing to  the  subjects,  in  various  apartments  of  his  palace, 
and  which,  if  we  may  credit  the  Arabian  historians, 
amounted  to  six  hundred  thousand  volumes." 

If  all  this  be  thought  to  savor  too  much  of  Eastern 
hyperbole,  still  it  cmnot  be  doubted  that  an  amazing 
number  of  writers  swarmed  over  the  Peninsula  at  this 
period.  Casiri's  multifarious  catalogue  bears  ample 
testimony  to  the  emulation  with  which  not  only  men, 
but  even  women  of  the  highest  rank,  devoted  them- 
selves to  letters  ;  the  latter  contending  publicly  for  the 
prizes,  not  merely  in  eloquence  and  poetry,  but  in  those 
recondite  studies  which  have  usually  been  reserved  for 
the  other  sex.  The  prefects  of  the  provinces,  emulating 
their  master,  converted  their  courts  into  academies,  and 
dispensed  premiums  to  poets  and  philosophers.  The 
stream  of  royal  bounty  awakened  life  in  the  remotest 
districts.  But  its  effects  were  especially  visible  in  the 
capital.  Eighty  free  schools  were  opened  in  Cordova. 
The  circle  of  letters  and  science  was  publicly  expounded 
by  professors,  whose  reputation  for  wisdom  attracted  not 
only  the  scholars  of  Christian  Spain,  but  of  France, 


"  Casiri,  Bibliotheca  Escurialensis,  torn.  ii.  pp.  38,  si02. — Conde, 
Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  part,  a,  cap.  88. — ^This  number  will  appear 
less  startling  if  we  consider  that  it  was  the  ancient  usage  to  make  a 
separate  volume  of  each  book  into  which  a  work  was  divided ;  that 
only  one  side  of  the  leaf  was  usually  written  on,  and  that  writing  always 
covers  much  greater  space  than  printing.  T.ie  correct  grounds  on 
which  the  estimates  of  these  ancient  libraries  are  to  be  'ormed  are  ex- 
hibited by  the  learned  and  ingenious  Balbi,  in  his  recent  work,  "  Essai 
statistique  sur  les  Bibliotb&ques  de  Vienne."  (Vienne,  1835.) 


38« 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


Jf 


io 


Italy,  Germany,  and  the  British  Isles.  For  this  period 
of  brilliant  illumination  with  the  Saracens  corresponds 
precisely  with  that  of  the  deepest  barbarism  of  Europe ; 
when  a  library  of  three  or  four  hundred  volumes  was  a 
magnificent  endowment  for  the  richest  monastery;  when 
scarcely  a  **  priest  soath  of  the  Thames,"  in  the  words 
of  Alfred,  "could  translate  Latin  into  his  mother 
tongue;"  when  not  a  single  philosopher,  according 
to  Tiraboschi,  was  to  be  met  with  in  Italy,  save  only 
the  French  pope  Sylvester  the  Second,  who  drew  his 
knowledge  from  the  schools  of  the  Spanish  Arabs,  and 
was  esteemed  a  necromancer  for  his  pains."* 

Such  is  the  glowing  picture  presented  to  us  of  Arabian 
scholarship,  in  the  tenth  and  succeeding  centuries, 
under  a  despotic  government  and  a  sensual  religion ; 
and,  whatever  judgment  may  be  passed  on  the  real 
value  of  all  their  boasted  literature,  it  cannot  be  de- 
nied that  the  nation  exhibited  a  wonderful  activity  of 
intellect,  and  an  apparatus  for  learning  (if  we  are  to 
admit  their  own  statements)  unrivalled  in  the  best  ages 
of  antiquity. 

The  Mahometan  governments  of  that  period  rested 

*•  Tiraboschi,  Storiadella  Letteratura  Italiana  (Roma,  1782-97),  torn. 
iii.  p.  231. — ^Turner,  History  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  (London,  1820),  vol. 
iii.  p.  137. — Andres,  Dell'  Origine,  de'  Progress!  e  dello  Stato  attualc 
d'c^ni  Letteratura  (Venezia,  1783),  part,  i,  cap.  8,  9. — Casiri,  Biblio- 
theca  Elscurialensis,  torn.  ii.  p.  149. — Masdeu,  Historia  critica,  torn, 
xiii.  pp.  165,  171. — Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  part,  2,  cap. 
93. — ^Among  the  accomplished  women  of  this  period,  Valadata,  the 
daughter  of  the  caliph  Mahomet,  is  celebrated  as  having  frequently 
carried  away  the  palm  of  eloquence  in  her  discussions  with  the  most 
learned  academicians.  Others  again,  with  an  intrepidity  that  might 
shame  the  degeneracy  of  a  modern  blue,  plunged  boldly  into  the  studies 
of  philosophy,  history,  and  jurisprudence. 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


383 


on  so  unsound  a  basis  that  the  season  of  their  greatest 
prosperity  was  often  followed  by  precipitate  decay. 
This  had  been  the  case,  with  the  Eastern  caliphatej  and 
was  now  so  with  the  Western.  During  the  life  of  Alha- 
kem's  successor,  the  empire  of  the  Omeyades  was  broken 
up  into  a  hundred  petty  principalities ;  and  their  mag- 
nificent capital  of  Cordova,  dwindling  into  a  second- 
rate  city,  retained  no  other  distinction  than  that  of 
being  the  Mecca  of  Spain.  These  little  states  soon 
became  a  prey  to  all  the  evils  arising  out  of  a  vicious 
constitution  of  government  and  religion.  Almost  every 
accession  to  the  throne  was  contested  by  numerous 
competitors  of  the  same  family;  and  a  succession  of 
sovereigns,  wearing  on  their  brows  but  the  semblance 
of  a  crown,  came  and  departed,  like  the  shadows  of 
Macbeth.  The  motley  tribes  of  Asiatics,  of  whom  the 
Spanish  Arabian  population  was  composed,  regarded 
each  other  with  ill-disguised  jealousy.  The  lawless, 
predatory  habits,  which  no  discipline  could  effectually 
control  in  an  Arab,  made  them  ever  ready  for  revolt. 
The  Moslem  states,  thus  reduced  in  size  and  crippled 
by  faction,  were  unable  to  resist  the  Christian  forces, 
which  were  pressing  on  them  from  the  north.  By  the 
middle  of  the  ninth  century  the  Spaniards  had  reached 
the  Douro  and  the  Ebro.  By  the  close  of  the  eleventh 
they  had  advanced  their  line  of  conquest,  under  the 
victorious  banner  of  the  Cid,  to  the  Tagus.  The  swarms 
of  Africans  who  invaded  the  Peninsula,  during  the  two 
following  centuries,  gave  substantial  support  to  their 
Mahometan  brethren ;  and  the  cause  of  Christian  Spain 
trembled  in  the  balance  for  a  moment  on  the  memora- 
ble day  of  Navas  de  Tolosa.  (12 1 2.)   But  the  fortunate 


■ 


384 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


} 


issue  of  that  battle,  in  which,  according  to  the  lying 
letter  of  Alfonso  the  Ninth,  "one  hundred  and  eighty- 
five  thousand  infidels  perished,  and  only  five-and-twenty 
Spaniards,"  gave  a  permanent  ascendency  to  the  Chris- 
tian arms.  The  vigorous  campaigns  of  James  the  First 
of  Aragon,  and  of  St.  Ferdinand  of  Castile,  gradually 
stripped  away  the  remaining  territories  of  Valencia, 
Murcia,  and  Andalusia ;  so  that  by  the  middle  of  the 
thirteenth  century  the  constantly  contracting  circle  of 
the  Moorish  dominion  had  shrunk  into  the  narrow 
limits  of  the  province  of  Granada.  Yet  on  this  com- 
paratively small  point  of  their  ancient  domain  the 
Saracens  erected  a  new  kingdom,  of  sufficient  strength 
to  resist,  for  more  than  two  centuries,  the  united  forces 
of  the  Spanish  monarchies. 

The  Moorish  territory  of  Granada  contained,  within 
a  circuit  of  about  one  hundred  and  eighty  leagues,  all 
the  physical  resources  of  a  great  empire.  Its  broad 
valleys  were  intersected  by  mountains  rich  in  mineral 
wealth,  whose  hardy  population  supplied  the  state  with 
husbandmen  and  soldiers.  Its  pastures  were  fed  by 
abundant  fountains,  and  its  coasts  studded  with  com- 
modious ports,  the  principal  marts  in  the  Mediterranean. 
In  the  midst,  and  crowning  the  whole  as  with  a  diadem, 
rose  the  beautiful  city  of  Granada.  In  the  days  of  the 
Moors  it  was  encompassed  by  a  wall,  flanked  by  a 
thousand  and  thirty  towers,  with  seven  portals.  "^  Its 
population,  according  to  a  contemporary,  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  fourteenth  century,  amounted  to  two 
hundred  thousand  souls  ;"*  and  various  authors  agree  in 

•3  Garibay,  Compendio,  lib.  39,  cap.  3. 
■4  Zurita,  Anales,  lib.  90,  cap.  43. 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


38s 


attesting  that  at  a  later  period  it  could  send  forth  fifty 
thousand  warriors  from  its  gates.  This  statement  will 
not  appear  exaggerated,  if  we  consider  that  the  native 
population  of  the  city  was  greatly  swelled  by  the  influx 
of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  districts  lately  con- 
quered by  the  Spaniards.  On  the  summit  of  one  of  the 
hills  of  the  city  was  erected  the  royal  fortress  or  palace 
of  the  Alhambra,  which  was  capable  of  containing 
within  its  circuit  forty  thousand  men."s  The  light  and 
elegant  architecture  of  this  edifice,  whose  magnificent 
ruins  still  form  the  most  interesting  monument  in  Spain 
for  the  contemplation  of  the  traveller,  shows  the  great 
advancement  of  the  art  since  the  construction  of  the 
celebrated  mosque  of  Cordova.  Its  graceful  porticos 
and  colonnades,  its  domes  and  ceilings,  glowing  with 
tints  which,  in  that  transparent  atmosphere,  have  lost 
nothing  of  their  original  brilliancy,  its  airy  halls,  so 
constructed  as  to  admit  the  perfume  of  surrounding 
gardens  and  agreeable  ventilations  of  the  air,  and  its 
fountains,  which  still  shed  their  coolness  over  its  de- 
serted courts,  manifest  at  once  the  taste,  opulence,  and 
Sybarite  luxury  of  its  proprietors.  The  streets  are  repre- 
sented to  have  been  narrow,  many  of  the  houses  lofty, 
with  turrets  of  curiously  wrought  larch  or  marble,  and 
with  cornices  of  shining  metal,  **that  glittered  like 
stars  through  the  dark  foliage  of  the  orange  groves;" 
and  the  whole  is  compared  to  "an  enamelled  vase, 
sparkling  with  hyacinths  and  emeralds.""*  Such  are  the 


S 


=s  L.  Marineo,  Cosas  metnorables,  fol.  169. 

**  Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  torn.  ii.  p.  147. — Casiri,  Biblio- 
theca  Escurialensis,  torn.  ii.  pp.  248  et  seq. — Pedraza,  Antigiiedad  y 
Excelencias  de  Granada  (Madrid,  1608),  lib.  i. — Pedraza  has  collected 
Vol.  I. — 25  R 


^^ 


386 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


florid  strains  in  which  the  Arabic  writers  fondly  descant 
on  the  glories  of  Granada. 

At  the  foot  of  this  fabric  of  the  genii  lay  the  culti- 
vated vegay  or  plain,  so  celebrated  as  the  arena,  for 
more  than  two  centuries,  of  Moorish  and  Christian 
chivalry,  every  inch  of  whose  soil  may  be  said  to 
have  been  fertilized  with  human  blood.  The  Arabs 
exhausted  on  it  all  their  powers  of  elaborate  cultiva- 
tion. They  distributed  the  waters  of  the  Xenil,  which 
flowed  through  it,  into  a  thousand  channels  for  its  more 
perfect  irrigation.  A  constant  succession  of  fruits  and 
crops  was  obtained  throughout  the  year.  The  products 
of  the  most  opposite  latitudes  were  transplanted  tberi. 
with  success;  and  the  hemp  of  the  north  grew  luxui  ■ 
ant  under  the  shadow  of  the  vine  and  the  olive.  SiL 
furnished  the  principal  staple  of  a  traffic  that  was  car- 
ried on  through  the  ports  of  Almeria  and  Malaga.  The 
Italian  cities,  then  rising  into  opulence,  derived  their 
principal  skill  in  this  elegant  manufacture  from  the 
Spanish  Arabs.  Florence,  in  particular,  imported  large 
quantities  of  the  raw  material  from  them  as  late  as  the 
fifteenth  century.  The  Genoese  are  mentioned  as  hav- 
ing mercantile  establishments  in  Granada ;  and  treaties 
of  commerce  were  entered  into  with  this  nation,  as 
well  as  with  the  crown  of  Aragon.    Their  ports  swarmed 


the  various  etymologies  of  the  term  Granada,  which  some  writers  have 
traced  to  the  fact  of  the  city  having  been  the  spot  where  the  pome- 
granate was  first  introduced  from  Africa ;  others  to  the  large  quantity 
oi grain  in  which  its  vega  abounded ;  others  again  to  the  resemblance 
which  the  city,  divided  into  two  hills  thickly  sprinkled  with  houses, 
bore  to  a  half-opened  pomegranate.  (Lib.  2,  cap.  17.)  The  arms  of  the 
city,  which  were  in  part  composed  of  a  pomegranate,  would  seem  to 
favor  the  derivation  of  its  name  from  that  of  the  fruit. 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


387 


with  a  motley  contribution  from  "Europe,  Africa,  and 
the  Levant,"  so  that  "Granada,"  in  the  words  of  the 
historian,  "became  the  common  city  of  all  nations." 
"The  reputation  of  the  citizens  for  trustworthiness," 
says  a  Spanish  writer,  "  was  such  that  their  bare  word 
was  more  relied  on  than  a  written  contract  is  now 
among  us;"  and  he  quotes  the  saying  of  a  Catholic 
bishop,  that  "  Moorish  works  and  Spanish  faith  were 
all  that  were  necessary  to  make  a  good  Christian."'^ 

The  revenue,  which  was  computed  at  twelve  hun- 
dred thousand  ducats,  was  derived  from  similar  but  in 
some  respects  heavier  impositions  than  those  of  the 
caliphs  of  Cordova.  The  crown,  besides  being  pos- 
sessed of  valuable  plantations  in  the  vega,  imposed  the 
onerous  tax  of  one-seventh  on  all  the  agricultural  pro- 
duce of  the  kingdom.  The  precious  metals  were  also 
obtained  in  considerable  quantities,  and  the  royal  mint 
was  noted  for  the  purity  and  elegance  of  its  coin.''^ 

The  sovereigns  of  Granada  were  for  the  most  part 


% 


1  Pedraza,  AntigUedad  de  Granada,  fol.  loi. — Denina,  Delle  Rivo- 
luzioni  d'ltalia  (Venezia,  1816). — Capmany  y  Montpalau,  Memorias 
hisloricas  sobre  la  Marina,  Comercio  y  Artes  de  Barcelona  ( Madrid, 
1779-92),  torn.  iii.  p.  218  ;  torn.  iv.  pp.  67  et  seq. — Conde,  Dominacion 
de  los  Arabes,  torn.  iii.  cap.  26. — The  ambassador  of  the  emperor 
Frederick  III.,  on  his  passage  to  the  court  of  Lisbon  in  the  middle  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  contrasts  the  superior  cultivation,  as  well  as 
general  civilization,  of  Granada  at  this  period  with  that  of  the  other 
countries  of  Europe  through  which  he  had  travelled.  Sismondi,  His- 
toire  des  R^publiques  Italiennes  du  Moyen-Age  (Paris,  1818),  torn.  ix. 

P-  405. 

=8  Casiri,  Bibliotheca  Escurialensis,  torn.  ii.  pp.  250-258. — The  fifth 
volume  of  the  Memoirs  of  the  Spanish  Academy  of  History  contains 
an  erudite  essay  by  Conde  on  Arabic  money,  principally  with  reference 
to  that  coined  in  Spain  ;  pp.  225-315. 


388 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


distinguished  by  liberal  tastes.  They  freely  dispensed 
their  revenues  in  the  protection  of  letters,  in  the  con- 
struction of  sumptuous  public  works,  and,  above  all, 
in  the  display  of  a  courtly  pomp  unrivalled  by  any  of 
the  princes  of  that  period.  Each  day  presented  a  suc- 
cession oi fetes  and  tourneys,  in  which  the  knight  seemed 
less  ambitious  of  the  hardy  prowess  of  Christian  chiv- 
alry than  of  displaying  his  inimitable  horsemanship, 
and  his  dexterity  in  the  elegant  pastimes  peculiar  to 
his  nation.  The  people  of  Granada,  like  those  of  an- 
cient Rome,  seem  to  have  demanded  a  perpetual  spec- 
tacle. Life  was  with  them  one  long  carnival,  and  the 
season  of  revelry  was  prolonged  until  the  enemy  was 
at  the  gate. 

During  the  interval  which  had  elapsed  since  the  decay 
of  the  Omeyades,  the  Spaniards  had  been  gradually 
rising  in  civilization  to  the  level  of  their  Saracen  ene- 
mies ;  and,  while  their  increased  consequence  secured 
them  from  the  contempt  with  which  they  had  formerly 
been  regarded  by  the  Mussulmans,  the  latter,  in  their 
turn,  had  not  so  far  sunk  in  the  scale  as  to  become 
the  objects  of  the  bigoted  aversion  which  was,  in  after- 
days,  so  heartily  visited  on  them  by  the  Spaniards.  At 
this  period,  therefore,  the  two  nations  viewed  each  other 
with  more  liberality,  probably,  than  at  any  previous  or 
succeeding  time.  Their  respective  monarchs  con- 
ducted their  mutual  negotiations  on  a  footing  of  perfect 
equality.  We  find  several  examples  of  Arabic  sover- 
eigns visiting  in  person  the  court  of  Castile.  These 
civilities  were  reciprocated  by  the  Christian  princes. 
As  late  as  1463,  Henry  the  Fourth  had  a  personal  in- 
terview with  the  king  of  Granada,  in  the  dominions  of 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


389 


the  latter.  The  two  monarchs  held  their  conference 
under  a  splendid  pavilion  erected  in  the  vega,  before 
the  gates  of  the  city;  and,  after  an  exchange  of 
presents,  the  Spanish  sovereign  was  escorted  to  the 
frontiers  by  a  body  of  Moorish  cavaliers.  These  acts 
of  courtesy  relieve  in  some  measure  the  ruder  features 
of  an  almost  uninterrupted  warfare,  that  was  neces- 
sarily kept  up  between  the  rival  nations."* 

The  Moorish  and  Christian  knights  were  also  in 
the  habit  of  exchanging  visits  at  the  courts  of  their 
respective  masters.  The  latter  were  wont  to  repair  to 
Granada  to  settle  their  affairs  of  honor,  by  personal 
rencounter,  in  the  presence  of  its  sovereign.  The 
disaffected  nobles  of  Castile,  among  whom  Mariana 
especially  notices  the  Velas  and  the  Castros,  often 
sought  an  asylum  there,  and  served  under  the  Moslem 
banner.  With  this  interchange  of  social  courtesy  be- 
tween the  two  nations,  it  could  not  but  happen  that 
each  should  contract  some  of  the  peculiarities  natural 
to  the  other.     The  Spaniard  acquired  something  of 

^  A  specification  of  a  royal  donative  in  that  day  may  serve  to 
show  the  martial  spirit  of  the  age.  In  one,  made  by  the  king  of 
Granada  to  the  Castilian  sovereign,  we  find  tw^enty  noble  steeds  of  the 
royal  stud,  reared  on  the  banks  of  the  Xenil,  with  superb  caparisons, 
and  the  same  number  of  scimitars  richly  garnished  with  gold  and 
jewels ;  and,  in  another,  mixed  up  with  perfumes  and  cloth  of  gold, 
we  meet  w^ith  a  litter  of  tame  lions.  (Conde,  Dominacion  de  los 
Arabes,  tom.  iii.  pp.  163,  183.)  This  latter  symbol  of  royalty  appears 
to  have  been  deemed  peculiarly  appropriate  to  the  kings  of  Leon. 
Ferreras  informs  us  that  the  ambassadors  from  France  at  the  Castilian 
court,  ill  1434,  were  received  by  John  II.  with  a  full-grown  domesti- 
cated lion  crouching  at  his  feet.  (Hist.  d'Elspagne,  tom.  vi.  p.  401.) 
The  same  taste  appears  still  to  exist  in  Turkey.  Dr.  Clarke,  in  his 
visit  to  Constantinople,  met  with  one  of  these  terrific  pets,  who  used  to 
follow  his  master,  Hassan  Pacha,  about  like  a  dog. 


i    l\ 


S\ 


390 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


the  gravity  and  magnificence  of  demeanor  proper  to 
the  Arabian  \  and  the  latter  relaxed  his  habitual  reserve, 
and,  above  all,  the  jealousy  and  gross  sensuality  which 
characterize  the  nations  of  the  East. 3° 

Indeed,  if  we  were  to  rely  on  the  pictures  presented 
to  us  in  the  Spanish  ballads  or  romances,  we  should 
admit  as  unreserved  an  intercourse  between  the  sexes 
to  have  existed  among  the  Spanish  Arabs  as  with  any 
other  people  of  Europe.  The  Moorish  lady  is  repre- 
sented there  as  an  undisguised  spectator  of  the  public 
festivals;  while  her  knight,  bearing  an  embroidered 
mantle  or  scarf,  or  some  other  token  of  her  favor,  con- 
tends openly  in  her  presence  for  the  prize  of  valor, 
mingles  with  her  in  the  graceful  dance  of  the  Zambra, 
or  sighs  away  his  soul  in  moonlight  serenades  under  her 
balcony.  3* 


30  Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  torn.  iii.  cap.  28. — Henriquez 
dtl  Castillo  (Cronica,  cap.  138)  gives  an  account  of  an  intended  duel 
between  two  Castilian  nobles,  in  the  presence  of  the  king  of  Granada, 
as  late  as  1470.  One  of  the  parties,  Don  Alfonso  de  Aguilar,  failing 
to  keep  his  engagement,  the  other  rode  round  the  lists  in  triumph,  with 
his  adversary's  portrait  contemptuously  fastened  to  the  tail  of  his 
horse. 

3'  It  must  be  admitted  that  these  ballads,  so  far  as  facts  are  con- 
cerned, are  too  inexact  to  furnish  other  than  a  very  slippery  foundation 
for  history.  The  most  beautiful  port' "  ^^  laps  of  the  Moorish  bal- 
lads, for  example,  is  taken  up  with  .c  'ds  of  the  Abencerrages  in 
the  latter  days  of  Granada.  Yet  this  famu^  whose  romantic  story  is 
still  repeated  to  the  traveller  amid  the  ruins  of  the  W  ambra,  is  scarcely 
noticed,  as  far  as  I  am  aware,  by  contemporary  writers,  foreign  or  do- 
mestic, and  would  seem  to  owe  its  chief  celebrity  to  the  apocryphal 
version  of  Ginds  Perez  de  Hita,  whose  "  Milesian  tales,"  according  to 
the  severe  sentence  of  Nic.  Antonio,  "  are  fit  only  to  amuse  the  lazy  and 
the  listless."     (Bibliotheca  Nova,  tom.  i.  p.  536.) 

But,  although  the  Spanish  ballads  are  not  entitled  to  the  credit  of 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


391 


Other  circumstances,  especially  the  frescos  still  ex- 
tant on  the  walls  of  the  Alhambra,  may  be  cited  as  cor- 
roborative of  the  conclusions  afforded  by  the  romances^ 
implying  a  latitude  in  the  privileges  accorded  to  the 
sex,  similar  to  that  in  Christian  countries,  and  alto- 
gether alien  from  ti  <  jenius  of  Mahometanism.*"    The 

strict  historical  documents,  they  may  yet  perhaps  be  received  in  evi- 
dence of  the  prevailing  character  of  the  social  relations  of  the  age  ;  a 
remark  indeed  predicable  of  most  works  of  fiction  written  by  authors 
contemporary  with  the  events  they  describe,  and  more  especially  so  of 
that  popular  minstrelsy  which,  emanating  from  a  simple,  uncorrupted 
chiss,  is  less  likely  to  swerve  from  truth  than  more  ostentatious  works 
of  art.  The  long  cohabitation  of  the  Saracens  with  the  Christians  (full 
evidence  of  which  is  afforded  by  Capmany  (Mem.  de  Barcelona,  tom. 
iv.  Apend.  no.  n),  who  quotes  a  document  from  the  public  archives  of 
Catalonia,  showing  the  great  number  of  Saracens  residing  in  Aragon 
even  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  the  most  flourishing 
period  of  the  Granadian  empire)  had  enabled  many  of  them  confessedly 
to  speak  and  write  the  Spanish  language  with  purity  and  elegance. 
Some  of  the  graceful  little  songs  which  are  still  chanted  by  the  peas- 
antry of  Spain  in  their  dances,  to  the  accompaniment  of  the  castanet, 
are  referred  by  a  competent  critic  (Conde,  De  la  Poesfa  Oriental,  MS.) 
to  an  Arabian  origin.  There  can  be  little  hazard,  therefore,  in  im- 
puting much  of  this  peculiar  minstrelsy  to  the  Arabians  themselves, 
the  contemporaries,  and  perhaps  the  eye-witnesses,  of  the  events  they 
celebrate. 

32  Casiri  (Bibliotheca  Escurialensis,  tom.  ii.  p.  259)  has  transcribed  a 
passage  from  an  Arabian  author  of  the  fourteenth  century,  inveighing 
bitterly  against  the  luxury  of  the  Moorish  ladies,  their  gorgeous  apparel 
and  habits  of  expense,  "  amounting  almost  to  insanity,"  in  a  tone  which 
may  remind  one  of  the  similar  philippic  by  his  contemporary  Dante 
against  his  fair  countrywomen  of  Florence.  Two  ordinances  of  a  king 
of  Granada,  cited  by  Conde  in  his  History,  prescribe  the  separation  of 
the  women  from  the  men  in  the  mosques,  and  prohibit  their  attendance 
at  certain  festivals  without  the  protection  of  their  husbands  or  some 
near  relative.  Their  femmes  savantes,  as  we  have  seen,  were  in  the 
habit  of  conferring  freely  with  men  of  letters,  and  of  assisting  in  person 
at  the  academical  seances.    And  lastly,  the  frescos  alluded  to  in  the 


■; 


i 


M 


1  \ 


\  I 


392 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


chivalrous  character  ascribed  to  the  Spanish  Moslems 
appears,  moreover,  in  perfect  conformity  to  this.  Thus 
some  of  'heir  sovereigns,  we  are  told,  after  the  fatigues 
of  the  tournament,  were  wont  to  recreate  their  spirits 
with  "elegant  poetry,  and  florid  discourses  of  amorous 
and  knightly  history."  The  ten  qualities  enumerated 
as  essential  to  a  true  knight  were  "piety,  valor,  cour- 
tesy, prowess,  the  gifts  of  poetry  and  eloquence,  and 
dexterity  in  the  management  of  the  horse,  the  sword, 
lance,  and  bow."^'  The  history  of  the  Spanish  Arabs, 
especially  in  the  latter  wars  of  Granada,  furnishes  re- 
peated examples,  not  merely  of  the  heroism  which  dis- 
tinguished the  European  chivalry  of  the  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  centuries,  but  occasionally  of  a  polished 
courtesy  that  might  have  graced  a  Bayard  or.  a  Sidney. 
This  combination  of  Oriental  magnificence  and  knightly 
prowess  shed  a  ray  of  glory  over  the  closing  days  of  the 
Arabic  empire  in  Spain,  and  served  to  conceal,  though 
it  could  not  correct,  the  vices  which  it  possessed  in 
common  with  all  Mahometan  institutions. 

The  government  of  Granada  was  not  administered 
with  the  same  tranquillity  as  that  of  Cordova.  Revo- 
lutions were  perpetually  occurring,  which  may  be  traced 
sometimes  to  the  tyranny  of  the  prince,  but  more  fre- 


tcxt  represent  the  presence  of  females  at  the  tournaments,  and  the  for- 
tunate knight  receiving  the  palm  of  victory  from  their  hands. 

33  Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  tom.  i.  p.  340;  tom.  iii,  p.  119. 
— The  reader  may  compare  these  essentials  of  a  good  Moslem  cavalier 
with  those  enumerated  by  old  Froissart  of  a  good  and  true  Christian 
knight  of  his  own  day:  "  Le  gentil  chevalier  a  toutes  ces  nobles  vertus 
que  un  chevalier  doit  avoir:  il  fut  lie,  loyal,  amoureux,  sage,  secret, 
large,  pieux,  hardi,  entreprenant,  et  chevaleureux." — Chroniques,  liv. 
ii.  chap.  118. 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


393 


quently  to  the  factions  of  the  seraglio,  the  soldiery,  or 
the  licentious  populace  of  the  capital.  The  latter,  in- 
deed, more  volatile  than  the  sands  of  the  deserts  from 
which  they  originally  sprung,  were  driven  by  every  gust 
of  passion  into  the  most  frightful  excesses,  deposing  and 
even  assassinating  their  monarchs,  violating  their  pal- 
aces, and  scattering  abroad  their  beautiful  collections 
and  libraries ;  while  the  kingdom,  unlike  that  of  Cor- 
dova, was  so  contracted  in  its  extent  that  every  convul- 
sion of  the  capital  was  felt  to  its  farthest  extremities. 
Still,  however,  it  held  out,  almost  miraculously,  against 
the  Christian  arms ;  and  the  storms  that  beat  upon  it 
incessantly,  for  more  than  two  centuries,  scarcely  wore 
away  anything  from  its  original  limits. 

Several  circumstances  may  be  pointed  out  as  enabling 
Granada  to  maintain  this  protracted  resistance.  Its  con- 
centrated population  furnished  such  abundant  supplies 
of  soldiers  that  its  sovereigns  could  bring  into  the  field 
an  army  of  a  hundred  thousand  men. 3*  Many  of  these 
were  drawn  from  the  regions  of  the  Alpujarras,  whose 
rugged  inhabitants  had  not  been  corrupted  by  the  soft 
effeminacy  of  the  plains.  The  ranks  were  occasionally 
recruited,  moreover,  from  the  warlike  tribes  of  Africa. 
The  Moors  of  Granada  are  praised  by  their  enemies  for 
their  skill  with  the  cross-bow,  to  the  use  of  which  they 
were  trained  from  childhood. ^s  But  their  strength  lay 
chiefly  in  their  cavalry.  Their  spacious  vegas  afforded 
an  ample  field  for  tho  display  of  their  matchless  horse- 
manship ;  while  the  face  of  the  country,  intersected  by 


3*  Casiri,  on  Arabic  authority,  computes  it  at  200,000  men. 
theca  Escurialensis,  tom.  i.  p.  338. 
35  Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat6Iicos,  p.  250. 


Biblio* 


I 


I 


2  ' 
p. 


394 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


mountains  and  intricate  defiles,  gave  a  manifest  ad- 
vantage to  the  Arabic  light-horse  over  the  steel-clad 
cavalry  of  the  Christians,  and  was  particularly  suited 
to  the  wild  guerrilla  warfare  in  which  the  Moors  so 
much  excelled.  During  the  long  hostilities  of  he 
country,  almost  every  city  had  been  converted  into  a 
fortress.  The  number  of  these  fortified  places  in  the 
territory  of  Granada  was  ten  times  as  great  as  is  now  to 
be  found  throughout  the  whole  Peninsula. ^^  Lastly,  in 
addition  to  these  means  of  defence,  may  be  mentioned 
their  early  acquaintance  with  gunpowder,  which,  like 
the  Greek  fire  of  Constantinople,  contributed  perhaps 
in  some  degree  to  prolong  a  precarious  existence  beyond 
its  natural  term. 

But,  after  all,  the  strength  of  Granada,  like  that  of 
Constantinople,  lay  less  in  its  own  resources  than  in  the 
weakness  of  its  enemies,  who,  distracted  by  the  feuds 
of  a  turbulent  aristocracy,  especially  during  the  long 
minorities  with  which  Castile  was  afflicted  perhaps  more 
than  any  other  nation  in  Europe,  seemed  to  be  more 
remote  from  the  conquest  of  Granada  at  the  death  of 
Henry  the  Fourth  than  at  that  of  St.  Ferdinand  in  the 
thirteenth  century.  Before  entering  on  the  achieve- 
ment of  this  conquest  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  it 
may  not  be  amiss  to  notice  the  probable  influence  ex- 
erted by  the  Spanish  Arabs  on  European  civilization. 

Notwithstanding  the  high  advances  made  by  the 


36  Mem.  de  la  Acad,  de  Hist.,  tom.  vi.  p.  169.— These  ruined  fortifi- 
cations still  thickly  stud  the  border  territories  of  Granada ;  and  many 
an  Andalusian  mill,  along  the  banks  of  the  Guadayra  and  Guadalquivir, 
retains  its  batdemented  tower,  which  served  for  the  defence  of  its  in- 
mates against  the  forays  of  the  enemy. 


THE   SPANISH  ARABS. 


393 


Arabians  in  almost  every  l)ranch  of  learning,  and  the 
liberal  import  of  certain  sayings  ascribed  to  Mahomet, 
the  spirit  of  his  religion  was  eminently  unfavorable  to 
letters.  The  Koran,  whatever  be  the  merit  of  its 
literary  execution,  does  not,  we  believe,  contain  a 
single  precept  in  favor  of  general  science.^'  Indeed, 
during  the  first  century  after  its  promulgation,  almost 
as  little  attention  was  bestowed  upon  this  by  the  Sara- 
cens as  in  their  "days  of  ignorance/'  as  the  period  is 
stigmatized  which  preceded  the  advent  of  their  apostle.* 
But,  after  the  nation  had  reposed  from  its  tumultuous 
military  career,  the  taste  for  elegant  pleasures,  which 
naturally  results  from  opulence  and  leisure,  began  to 
flow  in  upon  it.  It  entered  upon  this  new  field  with  all 
its  characteristic  enthusiasm,  and  seemed  ambitious  of 
attaining  the  same  pre-eminence  in  science  that  it  had 
already  reached  in  arms. 

It  was  at  the  commencement  of  this  period  of  intel- 
lectual fermentation  that  the  last  of  the  Omeyades, 
escaping  into  Spain,  established  there  the  kingdom  of 
Cordova,  and  imported  along  with  him  the  fondness 


'>  r 


11 


ii: 
if 


I 


37  D'Herbelot  (Bib.  Oricntale,  torn.  1.  p.  630),  among  other  authentic 
traditions  of  Mahomet,  quotes  one  as  indicating  his  encouragement  of 
letters,  viz. :  "  That  the  ink  of  the  doctors  and  the  blood  of  the  martyrs 
are  of  equal  price."  M.  CElsner  (Des  Eflets  de  la  Religion  de  Mo- 
hammed, Paris,  1810)  has  cited  several  others  of  the  same  liberal  im- 
port. But  such  traditions  cannot  be  received  in  evidence  of  the  original 
doctrine  of  the  prophet.  They  are  rejected  as  apocrj'phal  by  the  Per- 
sians and  the  whole  sect  of  the  Shiites,  and  are  entitled  to  little  weight 
with  a  European. 

38  When  the  caliph  Al  Mamon  encouraged,  by  his  example  as  well 
as  patronage,  a  more  enlightened  policy,  he  was  accused  by  the  more 
orthodox  Mussulmans  of  attempting  to  subvert  the  principles  of  their 
religion.    See  Pococke,  Spec.  Hist.  Arabum  (Oxon.  1650),  p.  i66. 


rl 


11 


39« 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


I. 


for  luxury  and  letters  that  had  begun  to  display  itself  in 
the  capitals  of  the  East.  His  munificent  spirit  descended 
upon  his  successors;  and,  on  the  breaking  up  of  the 
empire,  the  various  capitals,  Seville,  Murcia,  Malaga, 
Granada,  and  others,  which  rose  upon  its  ruins,  became 
the  centres  of  so  many  intellectual  systems,  that  con- 
tinued to  emit  a  steady  lustre  through  the  clouds  and 
darkness  of  succeeding  centuries.  The  period  of  this 
literary  civilization  reached  far  into  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, and  thus,  embracing  an  interval  of  six  hundred 
years,  may  be  said  to  have  exceeded  in  duration  that 
of  any  other  literature,  ancient  or  modern. 

There  were  several  auspicious  circumstances  in  the 
condition  of  the  Spanish  Arabs,  which  distinguished 
them  from  their  Mahometan  brethren.  The  temperate 
climate  of  Spain  was  far  more  propitious  to  robustness 
and  elasticity  of  intellect  than  the  sultry  regions  of 
Arabia  and  Africa.  Its  long  line  of  coast  and  conve- 
nient havens  opened  to  it  an  enlarged  commerce.  Its 
number  of  rival  states  encouraged  a  generous  emula- 
tion, like  that  which  glowed  in  ancient  Greece  and 
modem  Italy,  and  was  infinitely  more  favorable  to  the 
development  of  the  mental  powers  than  the  far-extended 
and  sluggish  empires  of  Asia.  Lastly,  a  familiar  inter- 
course with  the  Europeans  served  to  mitigate  in  the 
Spanish  Arabs  some  of  the  more  degrading  superstitions 
incident  to  their  religion,  and  to  impart  to  them  nobler 
ideas  of  the  independence  and  moral  dignity  of  man 
than  are  to  be  found  in  the  slaves  of  Eastern  despotism. 

Under  these  favorable  circumstances,  provisions  for 
education  were  liberally  multiplied,  colleges,  acade- 
mies, and  gymnasiums  springing  up  spontaneously,  as 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


397 


it  were,  not  merely  in  the  principal  cities,  but  in  the 
most  obscure  villages  of  the  country.  No  less  than  fifty 
of  these  colleges  or  schools  could  be  discerned  scattered 
over  the  suburbs  and  populous  plain  of  Granada.  Every 
place  of  note  seems  to  have  furnished  materials  for  a 
literary  history.  The  copious  catalogues  of  writers,  still 
extant  in  the  Escurial,  show  how  extensively  the  culti- 
vation of  science  .  -as  pursued,  eve  i  through  its  minutest 
subdivisions ;  while  a  biographical  notice  of  blind  men 
eminent  for  their  scholrirshi  )  in  Spain  proves  how  far 
the  general  avidity  for  knv^vledge  trium^^hed  over  the 
most  discouraging  obstacles  of  natir  ^.» 

The  Spanish  Arabs  emulated  Jiair  countrymen  of 
the  Ea«>t  in  their  devotior.  :o  natural  and  ithematical 
science.  They  penetrated  i  ;to  the  remotest  regions 
of  Africa  and  Asia,  transmitting  an  exact  accou:  .t  '.>f 
their  proceedings  to  the  national  academies.  They  con- 
tributed to  astronomical  knowledge  by  the  number  and 
accuracy  of  their  observations,  and  by  the  improvement 
of  instruments  and  the  erection  of  observatories,  of 
which  the  noble  tower  of  Seville  is  one  of  the  earliest 
examples.  They  furnished  their  full  proportion  in  the 
department  of  history,  which,  according  to  an  Arabian 
author  cited   by  D'Herbelot,  could  boast  of  thirteen 


■I 


I 


39  Andres,  Letteratura,  part,  i,  cap.  8,  lo. — Casiri,  Bibliotheca  Escu- 
rialensis,  torn,  ii  pp.  71,  351  et  passim. — I  had  stated  in  the  early  edi- 
tions, on  thf  authority  of  Casiri,  that  seventy  public  libraries  existed  in 
Spain  at  ♦ht  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century.  A  sagacious  critic  in 
the  Edinburgh  Review  for  January,  1839,  in  a  well-deserved  stricture 
on  this  passage,  remarks  that,  after  a  careful  examination  of  the  manu- 
script in  the  Escurial  to  which  Casiri  refers  for  his  account,  he  could 
find  no  warrant  for  the  assertion.  It  must  be  confessed  to  savor  rather 
strongly  of  the  gigantesque. 


i 


398 


r//E  SPANISH  ARABS. 


hundred  writers.  The  treatises  on  logic  and  meta- 
physics amount  to  one-ninth  of  the  surviving  treasures 
of  the  Escurial ;  and,  to  conclude  this  summary  of 
naked  details,  some  of  their  scholars  appear  to  have 
entered  upon  as  various  a  field  of  philosophical  inquiry 
as  would  be  crowded  into  a  modern  encyclopaedia.** 

The  results,  it  must  be  confessed,  do  not  appear  to 
have  corresponded  with  this  magnificent  apparatus  and 
unrivalled  activity  of  research.  The  mind  of  the  Ara- 
bians was  distinguished  by  the  most  opposite  charac- 
teristics, which  sometimes,  indeed,  served  to  neutralize 
each  other.  An  acute  and  subtile  perception  was  often 
clouded  by  mysticism  and  abstraction.  They  com- 
bined a  habit  of  classification  and  generalization  with  a 
marvellous  fondness  for  detail ;  a  vivacious  fancy  with  a 
patience  of  application  that  a  German  of  our  day  might 
envy ;  and,  while  in  fiction  they  launched  boldly  into 
originality,  indeed  extravagance,  they  were  content  in 
philosophy  to  tread  servilely  in  the  track  of  their  ancient 
masters.  They  derived  their  science  from  versions  of 
the  Greek  philosophers;  but,  as  their  previous  discipline 
had  not  prepared  them  for  its  reception,  they  were 
oppressed  rather  than  stimulated  by  the  weight  of  the 
inheritance.  They  possessed  an  indefinite  power  of 
accumulation,  but  they  rarely  ascended  to  general 
principles,  or  struck  out  new  and  important  truths  ;  at 

4°  Casiri  mentions  one  of  these  universal  geniuses,  who  published  no 
less  than  a  thousand  and  fifty  treatises  on  the  various  topics  of  Ethics, 
History,  Law,  Medicine,  etc. !  Bibliotheca  Escurialensis,  torn.  ii.  p. 
107. — See  also  torn.  i.  p.  370;  torn.  ii.  p.  71  et  alibi. — Zuiiiga,  Annales 
de  Sevilla,  p.  22. — D'Herbelot,  Bib.  Orientale,  voce  Tarikh. — Masdeu, 
Historia  critica,  torn.  xiii.  pp.  203,  205. — Andres,  Letteratura,  part.  t. 
cap.  8. 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


399 


40 


least,  this  is  certain  in  regard  to  their  metaphysical 
labors. 

Hence  Aristotle,  who  taught  them  to  arrange  what 
they  had  already  acquired,  rather  than  to  advance  to 
new  discoveries,  became  the  god  of  their  idolatry. 
They  piled  commentary  on  commentary,  and,  in  their 
blind  admiration  of  his  system,  may  be  almost  said  to 
have  been  more  of  Peripatetics  than  the  Stagirite  him- 
self. The  Cordovan  Averroes  was  the  most  eminent  of 
his  Arabic  commentators,  and  undoubtedly  contrib- 
uted more  than  any  other  individual  to  establish  the 
authority  of  Aristotle  over  the  reason  of  mankind  for  so 
many  ages.  Yet  his  various  illustrations  have  served,  in 
the  opinion  of  European  critics,  to  darken  rather  than 
dissipate  the  ambiguities  of  his  original,  and  have  even 
led  to  the  confident  assertion  that  he  was  wholly  unac- 
quainted with  the  Greek  language.*' 

The  Saracens  gave  an  entirely  new  face  to  pharmacy 
and  chemistry.  They  introduced  a  great  variety  of 
salutary  medicaments  into  Europe.    The  Spanish  Arabs, 

4»  Consult  the  sensible,  though  perhaps  severe,  remarks  of  Dege- 
rando  on  Arabian  science.  (Hist,  de  la  Philosophie,  torn.  iv.  cap.  24.) — 
The  reader  may  also  peruse  with  advantage  a  disquisition  on  Arabian 
metaphysics  in  Turner's  History  of  England,  vol.  iv.  pp.  405-449. — 
Brucker,  Hist.  Philosophise,  torn.  iii.  p.  105. — Ludovicus  Vives  seems 
to  have  been  the  author  of  the  imputation  in  the  text.  (Nic.  Antonio, 
Bibliotheca  Vetus,  tom.  ii.  p.  394.)  Averroes  translated  some  of  the 
philosophical  works  of  Aristotle  from  the  Greek  into  Arabic ;  a  Latin 
version  of  which  translation  was  afterwards  made.  D'Herbelot,  how- 
ever, IS  mistaken  (Bib.  orientale,  art.  Roschd)  in  saying  that  Averroes 
was  the  first  who  translated  Aristotle  into  Arabic  ;  as  this  had  been 
done  two  centuries  before,  at  least,  by  Honain  and  others  in  the  ninth 
century  (see  Casiri,  Bibliotheca  Escurialensis,  tom.  i.  p.  304),  and 
Bayle  has  shown  that  a  Latin  version  of  the  Stagirite  was  used  by  the 
Europeans  before  the  alleged  period.     See  art.  Averroes. 


I 


»    - 


400 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


in  particular,  are  commended  by  Sprengel  above  their 
brethren  for  their  observations  on  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine.^ But  whatever  real  knowledge  they  possessed 
was  corrupted  by  their  inveterate  propensity  for  mysti- 
cal and  occult  science.  They  too  often  exhausted  both 
health  and  fortune  in  fruitless  researches  after  the  elixir 
of  life  and  the  philosopher's  stone.  Their  medical 
prescriptions  were  regulated  by  the  aspect  of  the  stars. 
Their  physics  were  debased  by  magic,  their  chemistry 
degenerated  into  alchemy,  their  astronomy  into  as- 
trology. 

In  the  fruitful  field  of  history  their  success  was  even 
more  equivocal.  They  seem  to  have  been  wholly  des- 
titute of  the  philosophical  spirit  which  gives  life  to  this 
kind  of  composition.  They  were  the  disciples  of  fatal- 
ism and  the  subjects  of  a  despotic  government.  Man 
appeared  to  them  only  in  the  contrasted  aspects  of 
slave  and  master.  What  could  they  know  of  the  finer 
moral  relations,  or  of  the  higher  energies  of  the  soul, 
which  are  developed  only  under  free  and  beneficent 
institutions?  Even  could  they  have  formed  concep- 
tions of  these,  how  would  they  have  dared  to  express 
them?  Hence  their  histories  are  too  often  mere 
barren  chronological  details,  or  fulsome  panegyrics 
on  their  princes,  unenlivened  by  a  single  spark  of  phi- 
losophy or  criticism. 

Although  the  Spanish  Arabs  are  not  entitled  to  the 
credit  of  having  wrought  any  important  revolution  in 
intellectual  or  moral  science,  they  are  commended  by 
a  severe  critic  as  exhibiting  in   their  writings  "  the 

*»  Sprengel,  Histoire  de  la  M^decine,  traduite  par  Jourdan  (Paris, 
1815),  torn.  ii.  pp.  S163  et  seq. 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


401 


germs  of  many  theories  which  have  been  reproduced 
as  discoveries  in  later  ages,"*'  and  they  silently  per- 
fected several  of  those  useful  arts  which  have  had  a 
sensible  influence  on  the  happiness  and  improvement 
of  mankind.  Algebra  and  the  higher  mathematics  were 
taught  in  their  schools,  and  thence  diffused  over 
Europe.  The  manufacture  of  paper,  which,  since  the 
invention  of  printing,  has  contributed  so  essentially  to 
the  rapid  circulation  of  knowledge,  was  derived  through 
them.  Casiri  has  discovered  several  manuscripts  of 
cotton  paper  in  the  Escurial  as  early  as  1009,  and 
of  linen  paper  of  the  date  of  1 106  ;**  the  origin  of  which 
latter  fabric  Tiraboschi  has  ascribed  to  an  Italian  of 
Trevigi,  in  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century.** 
Lastly,  the  application  of  gunpowder  to  military  science, 
which  has  wrought  an  equally  important  revolution, 
though  of  a  more  doubtful  complexion,  in  the  condition 
of  society,  was  derived  through  the  same  channel.** 

43  Degerando,  Hist,  de  la  Philosophic,  torn.  iv.  ubi  supra. 

44  Bibliotheca  Elscurialensis,  torn.  ii.  p.  9. — Andres,  Letteratura,  part. 
I,  cap.  10. 

45  Letteratura  Italiana,  to.  ,  v.  p.  87. 

46  The  battle  of  Crecy  furnishes  the  earliest  instance  on  record  of  the 
use  of  artillery  by  the  European  Christians;  although  Du  Cange, 
among  several  examples  which  he  enumerates,  has  traced  a  distinct 
notice  of  its  existence  as  far  back  as  1338.  (Glossarium  ad  Scriptores 
Mediae  et  Infimse  Latinitatis  (Paris,  1793),  and  Supplement  (Paris, 
1766),  voce  Bombarda.)  The  history  of  the  Spanish  Arabs  carries  it 
to  a  much  iriier  period.  It  was  employed  by  the  Moorish  king  of 
Granada  a.  tne  siege  of  Baza,  in  1312  and  1325.  (Conde,  Dominacion 
dc  los  Arabes,  tom.  iii.  cap.  18. — Casiri,  Bibliotheca  Escurialensis,  torn, 
ii.  p.  7.)  It  is  distinctly  noticed  in  an  Arabic  treatise  as  ancient  as 
1249 ;  and,  finally,  Casiri  quotes  a  passage  from  a  Spanish  author  at 
the  close  of  the  eleventh  century  (whose  MS.,  according  to  Nic.  An- 
tonio, though  familiar  to  scholars,  lies  still  entombed  in  the  dust  of 

Vol.  I.— 26 


:i 


Ii 


402 


rilE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


\i 


The  influence  of  the  Spanish  Arabs,  however,  is  dis- 
cernible not  so  much  in  the  amount  of  knowledge  as 
in  the  impulse  which  they  communicated  to  the  long- 
dormant  energies  of  Europe.  Their  invasion  was  coeval 
with  the  commencement  of  that  night  of  darkness 
which  divides  the  modem  from  the  ancient  world.  The 
soil  had  been  impoverished  by  long,  assiduous  cultiva- 
tion. The  Arabians  came  like  a  torrent,  sweeping 
down  and  obliterating  even  the  landmarks  of  former 
civilization,  but  bringing  nevertheless  a  fertilizing  prin- 
ciple, which,  as  the  waters  receded,  gave  new  life  and 
loveliness  to  the  landscape.  The  writings  of  the  Sara- 
cens were  translated  and  diffused  throughout  Europe. 
Their  schools  were  visited  by  disciples  who,  roused  from 
their  lethargy,  caught  somewhat  of  the  generous  enthu- 
siasm of  their  masters ;  and  a  healthful  action  was  given 
to  the  European  intellect,  which,  however  ill  directed 
at  first,  was  thus  prepared  for  the  more  judicious  and 
successful  efforts  of  later  times. 

It  is  comparatively  easy  to  determine  the  value  of  the 
scientific  labors  of  a  people,  for  truth  is  the  same  in  all 
languages ;  but  the  laws  of  taste  differ  so  widely  in  dif- 
ferent nations  that  it  requires  a  nicer  discrimination  to 
pronounce  fairly  upon  such  works  as  are  regulated  by 
them.  Nothing  is  more  common  than  to  see  the  j,  >etry 
of  the  East  condemned  as  tumid,  over-refined,  infected 
with  meretricious  ornament  and  conceits,  and,  in  short, 
as  every  way  contravening  the  principles  of  good  taste. 

libraries),  which  describes  the  use  of  artillery  in  a  naval  engagement 
of  that  period  between  the  Moors  of  Tunis  and  of  Seville.  Casiri, 
Bibliotheca  Escurialensis,  torn.  ii.  p.  8. — Nic.  Antonio,  Bibliotheca 
Vetus,  torn.  ii.  p.  X2. 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


403 


Few  of  the  critics  who  thus  peremptorily  condemn  are 
capable  of  reading  a  line  of  the  original.  The  merit 
of  poetry,  however,  consists  so  much  in  its  literary 
execution,  that  a  person,  to  pronounce  upon  it,  should 
be  intimately  acquainted  with  the  whole  import  of  the 
idiom  in  which  it  is  written.  The  style  of  poetry,  in- 
deed of  all  ornamental  writing,  whether  prose  or  verse, 
in  order  to  produce  a  proper  effect,  must  be  raised  or 
relieved,  as  it  were,  upon  the  prevailing  style  of  social 
intercourse.  Even  where  this  is  highly  figurative  and 
impassioned,  as  with  the  Arabians,  whose  ordinary  lan- 
guage is  made  up  of  metaphor,  that  of  the  poet  must 
be  still  more  so.  Hence  the  tone  of  elegant  literature 
varies  so  widely  in  different  countries,  even  in  those 
of  Europe,  which  approach  the  nearest  to  each  other 
in  their  principles  of  taste,  that  it  would  be  found  diffi- 
cult, if  not  impossible,  to  effect  a  close  translation  of 
the  most  admired  specimens  of  eloquence  from  the 
language  of  one  nation  into  that  of  any  other.  A  page 
of  Boccaccio  or  Bembo,  for  instance,  done  into  literal 
English,  would  have  an  air  of  intolerable  artifice  and 
verbiage.  The  choicest  morsels  of  Massillon,  Bossuet, 
or  the  rhetorical  Thomas,  would  savor  marvellously  of 
bombast ;  and  how  could  we  in  any  degree  keep  pace 
with  the  magnificent  march  of  the  Castilian  ?  Yet  surely 
we  are  not  to  impugn  the  taste  of  all  those  nations,  who 
attach  much  more  importance  and  have  paid  (at  least 
this  is  true  of  the  French  and  Italian)  much  greater 
attention  to  the  mere  beauties  of  literary  finish  than 
English  writers. 

Whatever  may  be  the  sins  of  the  Arabians  on  this 
head,  they  are  certainly  not  those  of  negligence.     The 


l! 


404 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


Spanish  Arabs,  in  particular,  were  noted  for  the  purity 
and  elegance  of  their  idiom ;  insomuch  that  Casiri 
affects  to  determine  the  locality  of  an  author  by  the 
superior  refinement  of  his  style.  Their  copious  philo- 
logical and  rhetorical  treatises,  their  arts  of  poetry, 
grammars,  and  rhyming  dictionaries,  show  to  what  an 
excessive  refinement  they  elaborated  the  art  of  compo- 
sition. Academies,  far  more  numerous  than  those  of 
Italy,  to  which  they  subsequently  served  for  a  model, 
invited  by  their  premiums  frequent  competitions  in 
poetry  and  eloquence.  To  poetry,  indeed,  especially 
of  the  tender  kind,  the  Spanish  Arabs  seem  to  have 
been  as  indiscriminately  addicted  as  the  Italians  in  the 
time  of  Petrarch ;  and  there  was  scarcely  a  doctor  in 
church  or  <^tate  but  at  some  time  or  other  offered  up 
1.'?  amorous  incense  on  the  altar  of  the  muse.*' 

With  all  this  poetic  feeling,  however,  the  Arabs 
never  availed  themselves  of  the  treasures  of  Grecian 
eloquence  which  lay  open  before  them.  Not  a  poet  or 
orator  of  any  eminence  in  that  language  seems  to  have 
been  translated  by  them.*®  The  temperate  tone  of  Attic 
composition  appeared  tame  to  the  fervid  conceptions 
of  the  East.  Neither  did  they  venture  upon  what  in 
Europe  are  considered  the  higher  walks  of  the  art,  the 
drama  and  the  epic.*'    None  of  their  writers  in  prose 

47  Petrarch  complains,  in  one  of  his  letters  from  the  country,  that 
"jurisconsults  and  divines,  nay  his  own  valet,  had  taken  to  rhyming; 
and  he  was  afraid  the  very  cattle  might  begin  to  low  in  verse ;"  apud 
De  Sade,  Memoires  pour  la  Vie  de  Petrarque,  torn.  iii.  p.  243. 

48  Andres,  Letteratura,  part.  1,  cap.  11. — ^Yet  this  popular  assertion 
is  contradicted  by  Keinesius,  who  states  that  both  Homer  and  Pindar 
were  translated  into  Arabic  by  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century.  See 
Fabricius,  Bibliotheca  Graeca  (Hamb.  1712-38),  tom.  xii.  p.  753. 

49  Sir  William  Jones,  Traite  sur  la  Poesie  orientale,  sec.  2. — Sis- 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


405 


or  verse  show  much  attention  to  the  development  or 
dissection  of  character.  Their  inspiration  exhaled  in 
lyrical  effusions,  in  elegies,  epigrams,  and  idyls.  They 
sometimes,  moreover,  like  the  Italians,  employed  verse 
as  the  vehicle  of  instruction  in  the  grave  and  recondite 
sciences.  The  general  character  of  their  poetry  is  bold, 
florid,  impassioned,  richly  colored  with  imagery,  spark- 
ling with  conceits  and  metaphors,  and  occasionally 
breathing  a  deep  tone  of  moral  sensibility,  as  in  some 
of  the  plaintive  effusions  ascribed  by  Conde  to  the 
royal  poets  of  Cordova.  The  compositions  of  the 
golden  age  of  the  Abassides,  and  of  the  preceding 
period,  do  not  seem  to  have  been  infected  with  the 
taint  of  exaggeration,  so  offensive  to  a  European,  which 
distinguished  the  later  productions  in  the  decay  of  the 
empire. 

Whatever  be  thought  of  the  influence  of  the  Arabic 
on  European  literature  in  general,  there  can  be  no 
reasonable  doubt  that  it  has  been  considerable  on  the 
Provencal  and  the  Castilian.  In  the  latter  especially, 
so  far  from  being  confined  to  the  vocabulary  or  to  ex- 
ternal forms  of  composition,  it  seems  to  have  penetrated 
deep  into  its  spirit,  and  is  plainly  discernible  in  that 
affectation  of  stateliness  and  Oriental  hyperbole  which 
characterizes  Spanish  writers  even  at  the  present  day; 
in  the  subtilties  and  conceits  with  which  the  ancient 
Castiiian  verse  is  so  liberally  bespangled ;  and  in  the 


('  W! 


mondi  says  that  Sir  W.  Jones  is  mistaken  in  citing  the  history  of  Timour 
by  Ebn  Arabschah  as  an  Arabic  epic.  (Litt^rature  du  Midi,  torn.  i.  p. 
57.)  It  is  Sismondi  who  is  mistaken,  since  the  English  critic  states  that 
the  Arabs  have  no  heroic  poem,  and  that  this  poetical  prose  history  is 
not  accounted  such  even  by  the  Arabs  themselves. 


4o6 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


relish  for  proverbs  and  prudential  maxims,  which  is  so 
general  that  it  may  be  considered  national.*' 

A  decided  effect  has  been  produced  on  the  romantic 
literature  of  Europe  by  those  tales  of  fairy  enchantment, 
so  characteristic  of  Oriental  genius,  and  in  which  it 
seems  to  have  revelled  with  uncontrolled  delight. 
These  tales,  which  furnished  the  principal  diversion 

so  It  would  require  much  more  learning  than  I  am  fortified  with,  to 
enter  into  the  merits  of  the  question  which  has  been  raised  respecting 
the  probable  influence  of  the  Arabic  on  the  literature  of  Europe. 
A.  W.  Schlegel,  in  a  work  of  little  bulk,  but  much  value,  in  refuting 
with  his  usual  vivacity  the  extravagant  theory  of  Andres,  has  been  led 
to  conclusions  of  an  opposite  nature,  which  may  be  thought  perhaps 
scarcely  less  extravagant.  (Observations  sur  la  Langue  et  la  Litt^ra- 
ture  Proven9ales,  p.  64.)  It  must  indeed  seem  highly  improbable  that 
the  Saracens,  who,  during  the  Middle  Ages,  were  so  far  superior  in 
science  and  literary  culture  to  the  Europeans,  could  have  resided  so 
long  in  immediate  contact  with  them,  and  in  those  very  countries  in- 
deed which  gave  birth  to  the  most  cultivated  poetry  of  that  period, 
without  exerting  some  perceptible  influence  upon  it.  Be  this  as  it  may, 
its  influence  on  the  Castilian  cannot  reasonably  be  disputed.  This  has 
been  briefly  traced  by  Conde  in  an  "  Essay  on  Oriental  Poetry,"  Poesia 
oriental,  whose  publication  he  anticipates  in  the  Preface  to  his  "  His- 
tory of  the  Spanish  Arabs,"  but  which  still  remains  in  manuscript. 
(The  copy  I  have  used  is  in  the  library  of  Mr.  George  Ticknor.)  He 
professes  in  this  work  to  dtscem  in  the  earlier  Castilian  poetry,  in  the 
Cid,  the  Alexander,  in  Berceo's,  the  arch-priest  of  Hita's,  and  others 
of  similar  antiquity,  most  of  the  peculiarities  and  varieties  of  Arabian 
verse  ;  the  same  cadences  and  number  of  syllables,  the  same  intermix- 
ture of  assonances  and  consonances,  the  double  hemistich  and  pro- 
longed repetition  of  the  final  rhyme.  From  the  same  source  he  derives 
much  of  the  earlier  rural  minstrelsy  of  Spain,  as  well  as  the  measures 
of  its  romances  and  seguidillas ;  and  in  the  Preface  to  his  History  he 
has  ventured  on  the  bold  assertion  that  the  Castilian  owes  so  much  of 
its  vocabulary  to  the  Arabic  that  it  may  be  almost  accounted  a  dialect 
of  the  latter.  Conde's  criticisms,  however,  must  be  quoted  with  reserve. 
His  habitual  studies  had  given  him  such  a  keen  relish  for  Oriental  litera- 
ture that  he  was  in  a  manner  denaturalized  from  his  own. 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


I 


407 


of  the  East,  were  imported  by  the  Saracens  into  Spain; 
and  we  find  the  monarchs  of  Cordova  solacing  their 
leisure  hours  with  listening  to  their  rawis,  or  novelists, 
who  sang  to  them 

"  Of  ladye-love  and  war,  romance,  and  knightly  worth."S« 

The  same  spirit,  penetrating  into  France,  stimulated 
the  more  sluggish  inventions  of  the  trouvere,  and,  at  a 
later  and  more  polished  period,  called  forth  the  im- 
perishable creations  of  the  Italian  muse.s" 

It  is  unfortunate  for  the  Arabians  that  their  literature 
should  be  locked  up  in  a  character  and  idiom  so  diffi- 
cult of  access  to  European  scholars.  Their  wild, 
imaginative  poetry,  scarcely  capable  of  transfusion 
into  a  foreign  tongue,  is  made  known  to  us  only 
through  the  medium  of  bald  prose  translation ;  while 
their  scientific  treatises  have  been  done  into  Latin  with 
an  inaccuracy  which,  to  make  use  of  a  pun  of  Casiri's, 
merits  the  name  of  perversions  rather  than  versions  of 
the  originals.53  How  obviously  inadequate,  then,  are 
our  means  of  forming  any  just  estimate  of  their  literary 

5'  Byron's  beautiful  line  may  seem  almost  a  version  of  Conde's  Spanish 
text,  "  sucesos  de  armas  y  de  amores  con  muy  estraiios  lances  y  en  ele- 
gante estilo." — Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  tom.  i.  p.  457. 

sa  Sismondi,  in  his  Litterature  du  Midi  (tom.  i.  pp.  267  et  seq.),  and 
more  fully  in  his  R^publiques  Italiennes  (tom.  xvi.  pp.  448  et  seq.), 
derives  the  jealousy  of  the  sex,  the  ideas  of  honor,  and  the  deadly  spirit 
of  revenge,  which  distinguished  the  southern  nations  of  Europe  in  the 
fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries,  from  the  Arabians.  Whatever  be 
thought  of  the  jealousy  of  the  sex,  it  might  have  been  supposed  that 
the  principles  of  honor  and  the  spirit  of  revenge  might,  without  seeking 
further,  find  abundant  precedent  in  the  feudal  habits  and  institutions 
of  our  European  ancestors. 

53  "  Quasperversiones  potius,  quam  ver stones  meritd  dixeris."  Biblio- 
theca  Escurialensis,  tom.  i.  p.  266. 


il 


4o8 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


merits  1  It  is  unfortunate  for  them,  moreover,  that  the 
Turks,  the  only  nation  which,  from  an  identity  of  reli- 
gion and  government  with  the  Arabs,  as  well  as  from  its 
political  consequence,  would  seem  to  represent  them 
on  the  theatre  of  modern  Europe,  should  be  a  race  so 
degraded ;  one  which,  during  the  five  centuries  that  it 
has  been  in  possession  of  the  finest  climate  and  monu- 
ments of  antiquity,  has  so  seldom  been  quickened  into  a 
display  of  genius,  and  added  so  little  of  positive  value  to 
the  literary  treasures  descended  from  its  ancient  masters. 
Yet  this  people,  so  sensual  and  sluggish,  we  are  apt  to 
confound  in  imagination  with  the  sprightly,  intellect- 
ual Arab.  Both  indeed  have  been  subjected  to  the 
influence  of  the  same  degrading  political  and  religious 
institutions,  which  on  the  Turks  have  produced  the 
results  naturally  to  have  been  expected ;  while  the 
Arabians,  on  the  other  hand,  exhibit  the  extraordinary 
phenomenon  of  a  nation,  under  all  these  embarrass- 
ments, rising  to  a  high  degree  of  elegance  and  intel- 
lectual culture. 

The  empire,  which  once  embraced  more  than  half  of 
the  ancient  world,  has  now  shrunk  within  its  original 
limits ;  and  the  Bedouin  wanders  over  his  native  desert 
as  free,  and  almost  as  uncivilized,  as  before  the  coming 
of  his  apostle.  The  language  which  was  once  spoken 
along  the  southern  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  and  the 
whole  extent  of  the  Indian  Ocean  is  broken  up  into  a 
variety  of  discordant  dialects.  Darkness  has  again 
settled  over  those  regions  of  Africa  which  were  illu- 
mined by  the  light  of  learning.  The  elegant  dialect 
of  the  Koran  is  studied  as  a  dead  language  even  in  the 
birthplace  of  the  prophet.     Not  a  printing-press  at  this 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


409 


day  is  to  be  found  throughout  the  whole  Arabian  Pen- 
insula. Even  in  Spain,  in  Christian  Spain,  alas !  the 
contrast  is  scarcely  less  degrading.  A  deathlike  torpor 
has  succeeded  to  her  former  intellectual  activity.  Her 
cities  are  emptied  of  the  population  with  which  they 
teemed  in  the  days  of  the  Saracens.  Her  climate  is 
as  fair,  but  her  fields  no  longer  bloom  with  the  same 
rich  and  variegated  husbandry.  Her  most  interesting 
monuments  are  those  constructed  by  the  Arabs ;  and 
the  traveller,  as  he  wanders  amid  their  desolate  but 
beautiful  ruins,  ponders  on  the  destinies  of  a  people 
whose  very  existence  seems  now  to  have  been  almost  as 
fanciful  as  the  magical  creations  in  one  of  their  own 
fairy-tales. 


« 


Notwithstanding  the  history  of  the  Arabs  is  so  intimately  connected 
with  that  of  the  Spaniards  that  it  may  be  justly  said  to  form  the  reverse 
side  of  it,  and  notwithstanding  the  amplitude  of  authentic  documents 
in  the  Arabic  tongue  to  be  found  in  the  public  libraries,  the  Castilian 
writers,  even  the  most  eminent,  until  the  latter  half  of  the  last  century, 
with  an  insensibility  which  can  be  imputed  to  nothing  but  a  spirit  of 
religious  bigotry,  have  been  content  to  derive  their  narratives  exclu- 
sively from  national  authorities.  A  fire  which  occurred  in  the  Escurial 
in  1671  having  consumed  more  than  three-quarters  of  the  magnificent 
collection  of  Eastern  manuscripts  which  it  contained,  the  Spanish  gov- 
ernment, taking  some  shame  to  itself,  as  it  would  appear,  for  its  past 
supineness,  caused  a  copious  catalogue  of  the  surviving  volumes,  to  the 
number  of  1850,  to  be  compiled  by  the  learned  Casiri ;  and  the  result 
was  his  celebrated  work,  "  Bibliotheca  Arabico-Hispana  Escurialen- 
sis,"  which  appeared  in  the  years  1760-70,  and  which  would  reflect 
credit  from  the  splendor  of  its  typographical  execution  on  any  press 
of  the  present  day.  This  work,  although  censured  by  some  later 
Orientalists  as  hasty  and  superficial,  must  ever  be  highly  valued  as 
affording  the  only  complete  index  to  the  rich  repertory  of  Arabic 

s 


'  ; 


,>:ij 


410 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


manuscripts  in  the  Kscurial,  and  for  the  ample  evidence  which  it  ex- 
hibits of  the  science  and  mental  culture  of  the  Spanish  Arabs.  Several 
other  native  scholars,  among  whom  Andres  and  Masdcu  may  be  par- 
ticularly noticed,  have  made  extensive  rcsearclics  into  the  literary  his- 
tory of  this  people.  Still  their  political  history,  so  essential  to  a  correct 
knowledge  of  the  Spanish,  was  comparatively  neglected,  until  Seflor 
Conde,  the  late  learned  librarian  of  the  Academy,  who  had  given  ample 
evidence  of  his  Oriental  learning  in  his  version  and  illustrations  of  the 
Nubian  Geographer,  and  a  Dissertation  on  Arabic  Coins  published  in 
the  fifth  volume  of  the  Memoirs  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  History, 
compiled  his  work  entitled  "  Historia  de  la  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes 
en  EsfKifta."  The  first  volume  appeared  in  1820.  But  unhappily  the 
death  of  its  author,  occurring  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  pre- 
vented the  completion  of  his  design.  The  two  remaining  volumes, 
however,  were  printed  in  the  course  of  that  and  the  following  year  from 
his  own  manuscripts ;  and,  although  their  comparative  meagreness  and 
confused  chronology  betray  the  want  of  the  same  paternal  hand,  they 
contain  much  interesting  information.  Tlie  relation  of  the  conquest 
of  Granada,  especially,  with  which  the  work  concludes,  exhibits  some 
important  particulars  in  a  totally  different  point  of  view  from  that  in 
which  they  had  been  presented  by  the  principal  Spanish  historians. 

The  first  volume,  which  may  be  considered  as  having  received  the 
last  touches  of  its  author,  embraces  a  circumstantial  narrative  of  the 
great  Saracen  invasion,  of  the  subsequent  condition  of  Spain  under  the 
viceroys,  and  of  the  empire  of  the  Omeyades ;  undoubtedly  the  most 
splendid  portion  of  the  Arabian  annals,  but  the  one,  unluckily,  which 
has  b«>ca  most  copiously  illustrated  in  the  popular  work  compiled  by 
Cardonne  firom  the  Oriental  manuscripts  in  the  Royal  Library  at  Paris, 
liut,  as  this  author  has  followed  the  Spanish  and  the  Oriental  authori- 
ties indiscriminately,  no  part  of  his  book  can  be  cited  as  a  genuine 
Arabic  version,  except  indeed  the  last  sixty  pages,  comprising  the  con- 
quest of  Granada,  which  Cardonne  professes  in  his  Preface  to  have 
drawn  exclusively  from  an  Arabic  manuscript.  Conde,  on  the  other 
hand,  professes  to  have  adhered  to  his  originals  with  such  scrupulous 
fidelity  that  the  "  European  reader  may  feel  that  he  is  perusing  an 
Arabian  author;"  and  certainly  very  strong  internal  evidence  is  afforded 
of  the  truth  of  this  assertion,  in  the  peculiar  national  and  religious  spirit 
which  pervades  the  work,  and  in  a  certain  florid  gasconade  of  style, 
common  with  the  Oriental  writers.  It  is  this  fidelity  that  constitutes 
the  peculiar  value  of  Conde's  narrative.     It  is  the  first  time  that  the 


THE  SPANISH  ARABS. 


411 


Arabians,  at  least  those  of  Spain, — the  part  of  the  nation  which  reached 
the  highest  degree  of  refinement, — have  been  allowed  to  speak  for 
themselves.  The  history,  or  rather  tissue  of  histories,  embodied  in  the 
translation,  is  certainly  conceived  in  no  very  philosophical  spiiit,  and 
contains,  as  might  be  expected  from  an  Asiatic  pen,  little  for  the  edifi- 
cation of  a  European  reader  on  subjects  of  policy  and  government. 
The  narrative  is,  moreover,  encumbered  with  frivolous  details  and  a 
barren  muster-roll  of  names  and  titles,  which  would  better  become  a 
genealogical  table  than  a  history.  But,  with  every  deduction,  it  must 
be  allowed  to  exhibit  a  sufficiently  clear  view  of  the  intricate  conflict- 
ing relations  of  the  petty  principalities  which  swarmed  over  the  Pen- 
insula, and  to  furnish  abundant  evidence  of  a  wide-spread  intellectual 
improvement  amid  all  the  horrors  of  anarchy  and  a  ferocious  despot- 
ism. The  work  has  already  been  translated,  or  rather  paraphrased, 
into  French.  The  necessity  of  an  English  version  will  doubUcss  be  in 
a  great  degree  superseded  by  the  History  of  the  Spanish  Arabs,  pre- 
paring for  the  Cabinet  Cyclopaedia,  by  Mr.  Southey, — a  writer  with 
whom  few  Castilian  scholars  will  be  willing  to  compete,  even  on  their 
own  ground,  and  who  is,  happily,  not  exposed  to  the  national  or  reli- 
gious prejudices  which  can  interfere  with  his  rendering  perfect  justice 
to  his  subject. 


i 


[Conde's  reputation  has  been  vehemently  assailed  by  a  learned  Dutch 
scholar,  R.  P.  A.  Dozy,  who  describes  him  as  a  mere  pretender  in 
Arabic  lore,  "  knowing  little  of  the  language  beyond  the  characters 
in  which  it  is  written,  supplying  the  lack  of  the  most  elementary 
knowledge  by  an  extremely  fertile  imagination  and  an  unequalled  im- 
pudence, forging  dates  by  the  hundred,  and  inventing  focts  by  the 
thousand,  while  pretending  to  give  a  faithful  translation  of  Arabic 
texts."  The  work  in  which  these  charges  appear  (Recherches  sur 
I'Histoire  politique  et  litt^raire  de  I'Espagne  pendant  le  moyen  Age) 
is  chiefly  confined  to  the  eleventh  century,  and  was  left  unfinished  at 
the  author's  death.  The  sufficiency  of  his  proofs,  so  far  as  they  extend 
must  be  left  to  the  judgment  of  competent  Arabic  scholars. — Ed.] 


! 

1 


I 


CHAPTER   IX. 

WAR  OF   GRANADA. — SURPRISE   OF   ZAHARA. — CAPTURE 

OF   ALHAMA. 

I48I-I482. 

Zahara  surprised  by  the  Moors. — Marquis  of  Cadiz. — His  Expedition 
against  Alhama. — ^Vaior  of  the  Citizens. — Desperate  Struggle. — 
Fall  of  Alhama. — Consternation  of  the  Moors. — Vigorous  Measures 
of  the  Queen. 

No  sooner  had  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  restored  in- 
ternal tranquillity  to  their  dominions,  and  made  the 
strength  effective  which  had  been  acquired  by  their 
union  under  one  government,  than  they  turned  their 
eyes  to  those  fair  regions  of  the  Peninsula  over  which 
the  Moslem  crescent  had  reigned  triumphant  for  nearly 
eight  centuries.  Fortunately,  an  act  of  aggression  on 
the  part  of  the  Moors  furnished  a  pretext  for  entering 
on  their  plan  of  conquest,  at  the  moment  when  it  was 
ripe  for  execution.  Aben  Ismail,  who  had  ruled  in 
Granada  during  the  latter  part  of  John  the  Second's 
reign  and  the  commencement  of  Henry  the  Fourth's, 
had  been  partly  indebted  for  his  throne  to  the  former 
monarch;  and  sentiments  of  gratitude,  combined  with 
a  naturally  amiable  disposition,  had  led  him  to  foster 
as  amicable  relations  with  the  Christian  princes  as  the 
jealousy  of  two  nations,  that  might  be  considered  the 
(412) 


SURPRISE   OF  ALHAMA. 


413 


natural  enemies  of  each  other,  would  permit ;  so  that, 
notwithstanding  an  occasional  border  foray,  or  the  cap- 
ture of  a  frontier  fortress,  such  a  correspondence  was 
maintained  between  the  two  kingdoms  that  the  nobles 
of  Castile  frequently  resorted  to  the  court  of  Granada, 
where,  forgetting  their  ancient  feuds,  they  mingled 
with  the  Moorish  cavaliers  in  the  generous  pastimes  of 
chivalry. 

Muley  Abul  Hacen,  who  succeeded  his  father  in  1466, 
was  of  a  very  different  temperament.  His  fiery  char- 
acter prompted  him,  when  very  young,  to  violate  the 
truce  by  an  unprovoked  inroad  into  Andalusia;  and, 
although  after  his  accession  domestic  troubles  occupied 
him  too  closely  to  allow  leisure  for  foreign  war,  he  still 
cherished  in  secret  the  same  feelings  of  animosity 
against  the  Christians.  When,  in  1476,  the  Spanish 
sovereigns  required,  as  the  condition  of  a  renewal  of 
the  truce  which  he  solicited,  the  payment  of  the  annual 
tribute  imposed  on  his  predecessors,  he  proudly  replied 
that  *'  the  mints  of  Granada  coined  no  longer  gold,  but 
steel. ' '  His  subsequent  conduct  did  not  belie  the  spirit 
of  this  Spartan  answer.* 

At  length,  towards  the  close  of  the  year  1481,  the 
storm  which  had  been  so  long  gathering  burst  upon 
Zahara,  a  small  fortified  town  on  the  frontier  of  Anda- 
lusia, crowning  a  lofty  eminence,  washed  at  its  base  by 
the  river  Guadalete,  which  from  its  position  seemed 
almost  inaccessible.  The  garrison,  trusting  to  these 
natural  defences,  suffered  itself  to  be  surprised,  on  the 
night  of  the  26th  of  December,  by  the  Moorish  mon- 

»  Cardonne,  Hist,  de  I'Afrique  et  de  I'Espagne,  torn.  iii.  pp.  467-469. 
— Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  torn.  iii.  cap.  32,  34. 


Jiil 


Y 


11  If  : 


t4  iJ 


Hi 


«     M 


i.f 


414 


IFAH   OF  GRANADA. 


arch,  who,  scaling  the  walls  under  favor  of  a  furious 
tempest,  which  prevented  his  approach  from  being 
readily  heard,  put  to  the  sword  such  of  the  guard  as 
offered  resistance,  and  swept  away  the  whole  popula- 
tion of  the  place,  men,  women,  and  children,  into 
slavery  in  Granada. 

The  intelligence  of  this  disaster  caused  deep  mortifi- 
cation to  the  Spanish  sovereigns,  especially  to  Ferdi- 
nand, by  whose  grandfather  Zahara  had  been  recovered 
from  the  Moors.  Measures  were  accordingly  taken  for 
strengthening  the  whole  line  of  frontier,  and  the  utmost 
vigilance  was  exerted  to  detect  some  vulnerable  point 
of  the  enemy,  on  which  retaliation  might  be  success- 
fully inflicted.  Neither  were  the  tidings  of  their  own 
successes  welcomed  by  the  people  of  Granada  with  the 
joy  that  might  have  been  expected.  The  prognostics, 
it  was  said,  afforded  by  the  appearance  of  the  heavens, 
boded  no  good.  More  sure  prognostics  were  afforded 
in  the  judgments  of  thinking  men,  who  deprecated  the 
temerity  of  awakening  the  wrath  of  a  vindictive  and 
powerful  enemy.  *•'  Woe  is  me  !"  exclaimed  an  ancient 
Alfaki,  on  quitting  the  hall  of  audience.  "The  ruins 
of  Zahara  will  fall  on  our  own  heads  ;  the  days  of  the 
Moslem  empire  in  Spain  are  now  numbered!"' 

It  was  not  long  before  the  desired  opportunity  for 

=  Bernaldez,  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS.,  cap.  51. — Conde,  Dominacion 
de  los  Arabes,  torn.  iii.  cap.  34. — Pulgai,  Reyes  Catolicos,  p.  180. — L. 
Marineo,  Cosas  memorableb,  fol.  171. — Marmol,  Historia  del  Rebelion 
y  Castigo  de  los  Moriscos  (Madrid,  1797),  lib.  i,  cap.  12. — Lebrija 
states  that  the  revenues  of  Granada,  at  the  commencement  of  this  war, 
amounted  to  a  million  of  gold  ducais,  and  that  it  kept  in  pay  7000 
horsemen  on  its  peace  establishment,  and  couid  send  forth  21,000  war- 
riors from  its  gates.  The  last  of  these  estimates  would  not  seem  to  be 
exaggerated.     Rerum  Gestarum  Decades,  ii.  lib.  i,  cap.  i. 


SURPRISE    OF  ALIIAMA. 


415 


retaliation  presented  itself  to  the  Spaniards.  One  Juan 
de  Ortega,  a  captain  of  escaladores,  or  scalers,  so  de- 
nominated from  the  peculiar  service  in  which  they  were 
employed  in  besieging  cities,  who  had  acquired  some 
,  reputation  under  John  the  Second  in  the  wars  of  Roussil- 
lon,  reported  to  Diego  de  Merlo,  assistant  of  Seville, 
that  the  fortress  of  Alhama,  situated  in  the  heart  of  the 
Moorish  territories,  was  so  negligently  guarded  that  it 
might  be  easily  carried  by  an  enemy  who  had  skill  enough 
to  approach  it.  The  fortress,  as  well  as  the  city  of  the 
same  name,  which  it  commanded,  was  built,  like  many 
others  in  that  turbulent  period,  along  the  crest  of  a 
rocky  eminence,  encompassed  by  a  river  at  its  base, 
and,  from  its  natural  advantages,  might  be  deemed  im- 
pregnable. This  strength  of  position,  by  rendering  all 
other  precautions  apparently  superfluous,  lulled  its  de- 
fenders into  a  security  like  that  which  had  proved  so 
fatal  to  Zahara.  Alhama,  as  this  Arabic  name  implies, 
was  famous  for  its  baths,  whose  annual  rents  are  said  to 
have  amounted  io  five  hundred  thousand  ducats.  The 
monarchs  o*"  Granacia,  indulging  the  taste  common  to 
the  people  of  tie  E?st,  uccd  to  frequent  this  place,  with 
their  coU'!,  to  refres':  tiiemselves  with  its  delicious 
waters,  so  thnt  Alhama  L<^  ame  embellished  with  all  the 
magnificence  o'"  a  roy^J  resideixe.  The  place  was  still 
further  enriched  by  its  being  the  depot  of  the  public 
taxes  on  land  which  constituted  a  principal  branch  of 
the  revenue,  v.id  by  its  various  manufactures  of  cloth, 
for  which  its  inhabitants  were  celebrated  throughout  tlie 
kingdom  of  Granr.da.^ 

3  Estrada,  Poblacioii  de  Espaiia,  torn.  ii.  pp.  247,  248. — El  Nubiense, 
Descripcion  de  Espafiii,  p.  222,  r.otii. — Pulgar,  Reyas  Catolicos,  p.  181. 
— Marmol,  Rebdion  de  los  Moriscos,  lib.  i,  cap.  12. 


ill 


■i^iil 


i! 


4i6 


IVAJ?   OF  GRANADA. 


Diego  de  Merlo,  although  struck  with  the  advantages 
of  this  conquest,  was  not  insensible  to  the  difficulties 
with  which  it  would  be  attended ;  since  Albania  was 
sheltered  under  the  very  wings  of  Granada,  from  which 
it  lay  scarcely  eight  leagues  distant,  and  could  be 
reached  only  by  traversing  the  most  populous  portion 
of  the  Moorish  territory,  or  by  surmounting  a  precipi- 
tous sierra,  or  chain  of  mountains,  which  screened  it  on 
the  north.  Without  delay,  however,  he  communicated 
the  information  which  he  had  received  to  Don  Rodrigo 
Ponce  de  Leon,  marquis  of  Cadiz,  as  the  person  best 
fitted  by  his  capacity  and  courage  for  such  an  enter- 
prise. This  nobleman,  who  had  succeeded  his  father, 
the  count  of  Arcos,  in  1469,  as  head  of  the  great  house 
of  Ponce  de  Leon,  was  at  this  period  about  thirty-nine 
years  of  age.  Although  a  younger  and  illegitimate  son, 
he  had  been  preferred  to  the  succession  in  consequence 
of  the  extraordinary  promise  which  his  early  youth 
exhibited.  When  scarcely  seventeen  years  old,  he 
achieved  a  victory  over  the  Moors,  accompanied  with 
a  signal  display  of  personal  prowess. •♦     Later  in  life,  he 


4  Zuniga.  Annales  de  Sevilla.  pp.  349,  362. — This  occurred  in  the 
fight  of  Madroiio,  when  Don  Rodrigo,  stooping  to  adjust  his  buckler, 
which  had  been  unlaced,  was  suddenly  surrounded  by  a  party  of 
N'foors.  He  snatched  a  sling  from  one  of  them,  and  made  such  brisk 
use  of  it  that,  after  disabling  several,  he  succeeded  in  putting  them  to 
flight;  for  whicli  feat,  says  Zuniga,  the  king  complimented  him  with 
the  title  of  "  the  youthful  David." 

Don  Juan,  count  of  Arcos,  had  no  children  born  in  wedlock,  but  a 
numerous  progeny  by  his  concubines.  Among  these  latter  was  Dona 
Leonora  Nuiiez  de  Prado,  the  mother  of  Don  Rodrigo.  The  brilliant 
and  attractive  qualities  of  this  youth  so  far  won  the  affections  of  his 
father  that  the  latter  obtained  the  royal  sanction  (a  circumstance  not 
infrequent  in  an  age  when  the  laws  of  descent  were  very  unsettled) 


SUHPHISE   OF  ALI/AAfA. 


417 


formed  a  connection  with  the  daughter  of  the  marqnis 
of  Villena,  the  factious  minister  of  Henry  the  Fourth, 
through  whose  influence  he  was  raised  to  the  dignity  of 
marquis  of  Cadiz.  This  alliance  attached  him  to  the 
fortunes  of  Henry,  in  his  disputes  with  his  brother  Al- 
fonso, and  subsequently  with  Isabella,  on  whose  acces- 
sion, of  course,  Don  Rodrigo  looked  with  no  friendly 
eye.  He  did  nut,  however,  engage  in  any  overt  act  of 
resistance,  but  occupied  himself  with  prosecuting  an 
hereditary  feud  which  he  had  revived  with  the  duke  of 
Medina  Sidonia,  the  head  of  the  Guzmans,  a  family 
which  from  ancient  times  had  divided  with  his  own  the 
great  interests  of  Andalusia.  The  pertinacity  with 
which  this  feud  was  conducted,  and  the  desolation 
which  it  carried  not  only  into  Seville,  but  into  every 
quarter  of  the  province,  have  been  noticed  in  the  pre- 
ceding pages.  The  vigorous  administration  of  Isabella 
repressed  these  disorders,  and,  after  abridging  the  over- 
grown power  of  the  two  nobles,  effected  an  apparent  (it 
was  only  apparent)  reconciliation  between  them.  The 
fiery  spirit  of  the  marquis  of  Cadiz,  no  longer  allowed 
to  escape  in  domestic  broil,  urged  him  to  seek  distinc- 
tion in  iiiore  lionorable  warfare ;  and  at  this  moment  he 
lay  in  his  castle  at  Arcos,  looking  with  a  watchful  eye 
over  the  borders,  and  waiting,  like  a  lion  in  ambush, 
the  moment  when  he  could  spring  upon  his  victim. 

Without  hesitation,  therefore,  he  assumed  the  enter- 
prise proposed  by  Diego  de  Merlo,  imparting  his  pur- 
pose to  Don  Pedro  Henriquez,  adelantado  of  Andalu- 
sia, a  relative  c.   Ferdinand,  and  to  the  alcaydes  of  two 

to  bequeath  him  his  titles  and  estates,  to  the  prejudice  of  more  legiti- 
mate heirs. 

Vol,  I.— 27  s* 


m 
m 


m 


?ij| 


4i8 


fTA/S   OF  GRANADA. 


or  three  neighboring  fortresses.  With  the  assistance 
of  these  friends  he  assembled  a  force,  which,  includ- 
ing those  who  marched  under  the  banner  of  Seville, 
amounted  to  two  thousand  five  hundred  horse  and  three 
thousand  foot.  His  own  town  of  Marchena  was  ap- 
pointed as  the  place  of  rendezvous.  The  proposed 
route  lay  by  the  way  of  Antequera,  across  the  wild 
sierras  of  Alzerifa.  The  mountain-passes,  sufficiently 
difficult  at  a  :.eason  when  their  numerous  ravines  were 
choked  up  by  the  winter  torrents,  were  rendered  still 
more  formidable  by  beiiig  traversed  in  the  darkness  of 
night ;  for  the  party,  in  order  to  conceal  their  move- 
ments, lay  by  during  the  day.  Leaving  their  baggage 
on  the  banks  of  the  Yeguas,  that  they  might  move  for- 
ward with  greater  celerity,  the  whole  body  at  length 
atrived,  after  a  rapid  and  most  painful  march,  on  the 
third  night  from  their  departure,  in  a  deep  valley  about 
half  a  league  from  Alhama.  Here  the  marquis  first 
revealed  the  real  object  of  the  expedition  to  his  soldiers, 
who,  little  dreaming  of  anything  beyond  a  mere  border 
inroad,  were  transported  with  joy  at  the  prospect  of 
the  rich  booty  so  nearly  within  their  grasp. s 

The  next  morning,  being  the  28th  of  February,  a 
small  party  was  detached,  about  two  hours  before  dawn, 
under  the  command  of  John  de  Ortega,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  scaling  the  citadel,  while  the  main  body  moved 
fo'^ward  more  leisurely  under  the  marquis  of  Cadiz,  in 
orctci  to  support  them.     The  night  was  dark  and  tem- 


s  Bernaldez,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  52. — L.  Marineo,  Cosas 
memorables,  fol.  171. — Pulgar  computes  the  marquis's  army  at  3000 
horse  and  4000  foot.  Reyes  Catolicos,  p.  i8i. — Conde,  Dominacion 
de  los  Arabes,  torn.  iii.  cap.  34. 


SURrRiaE   OF  ALHAMA. 


419 


1  estuoiis,  a  circumstance  which  favored  their  approach 
in  the  same  manner  as  with  the  Moors  at  Zahara. 
After  ascending  the  rocky  heights  which  were  crowned 
by  the  citadel,  the  ladders  were  silently  placed  against 
the  walls,  and  Ortega,  followed  by  about  thirty  others, 
succeeded  in  gaining  the  battlements  unobserved.  A 
sentinel,  who  was  found  sleeping  on  his  post,  they  at 
once  despatched,  and,  proceeding  cautiously  forward 
to  the  guard-room,  put  the  whole  of  the  little  garrison 
to  the  sword,  after  the  short  and  ineffectual  resistance 
that  could  be  opposed  by  men  suddenly  roused  from 
slumber.  The  city  in  the  mean  time  was  alarmed,  but 
it  was  too  late ;  the  citadel  was  taken ;  and  the  outer 
gates,  which  opened  into  the  country,  being  thrown 
open,  the  marquis  of  Cadiz  entered,  with  trumpet 
sounding  and  banner  flying,  at  the  head  of  his  army, 
and  took  possession  of  the  fortress.** 

After  allowing  the  refreshment  nocessary  to  the  ex- 
hausted spirits  of  his  soldiers,  the  marquis  resolved  to 
sally  forth  at  once  upon  the  town,  before  its  inhabitants 
could  muster  in  sufficient  force  to  oppose  him.  But 
the  citizens  of  Alhama,  showing  a  resolution  rather  to 
have  been  expected  from  men  trained  in  a  camp  than 
from  peaceful  burghers  of  a  manufacturing  town,  had 
sprung  to  arms  at  the  first  alarm,  and,  gathering  in  the 
narrow  street  on  which  the  portal  of  the  castle  opened, 
so  completely  commanded  it  with  their  arquebuses  and 
crossbows,  that  the  Spaniards,  after  an  ineffectual  at- 

6  Lebrija,  Rerum  Gestarum  Decades,  ii.  lib.  i,  cap.  2. — Carbajal, 
Anales,  MS.,  ano  1482. — Bernaldez,  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS.,  cap.  52. — 
Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  Iv.  fol.  315.  —  Cardonne,  Hist,  de  I'Afrique  et 
de  I'Espagne,  torn.  iii.  pp.  252,  253. 


M 


■'t  *  f 


11  * '' 


1—  1 


420 


PVA/i   OF  GRANADA. 


tempt  to  force  a  passage,  were  compelled  to  recoil  upon 
their  defences,  amid  showers  of  bolts  and  balls,  which 
occasioned  the  loss,  among  others,  of  two  of  their 
principal  alcaydes. 

A  council  of  war  was  then  called,  in  which  it  was 
even  advised  by  some  that  the  fortress,  after  having 
been  dismantled,  should  be  abandoned  as  incapable  of 
defence  against  the  citizens  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
sutcors  which  might  be  expected  speedily  to  arrive 
from  Granada  on  the  other.  But  this  counsel  was  re- 
jected with  indignation  by  the  marquis  of  Cadiz,  whose 
fiery  spirit  rose  with  the  occasion ;  indeed,  it  was  not 
very  palatable  to  most  of  his  followers,  whose  cupidity 
was  more  than  ever  inflamed  by  the  sight  of  the  rich 
spoil  which,  after  so  many  fatigues,  now  lay  at  their 
feet.  It  was  accordingly  resolved  to  demolish  part  of 
the  fortifications  which  looked  towards  the  town,  and 
at  all  hazards  to  force  a  passage  into  it.  This  resolu- 
tion was  at  once  put  into  execution  ;  and  the  marquis, 
throwing  himself  into  the  breach  thus  made,  at  the 
head  of  his  men-at-arms,  and  shouting  his  war-cry  of 
"St.  James  and  the  Virgin,"  precipitated  himself  into 
the  thickest  of  the  enemy.  Others  of  the  Spaniards, 
running  along  the  outworks  contiguous  to  the  buildings 
of  the  city,  leaped  into  the  street,  and  joined  their 
companions  there,  while  others  again  sallied  from  the 
gates,  now  opened  for  the  second  time.^ 

The  Moors,  unshaken  by  the  fury  of  this  assault, 
received  the  assailants  with  brisk  and  well-directed 
volleys  of  shot  and  arrows;  while  the  women  and  chil- 

7  Bemaldee,  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS.,  ubi  supra. — Conde,  Doininacion 
de  los  Arabes,  cap.  34. — L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  172. 


SURPRISE   OF  ALHAMA. 


421 


dren,  thronging  the  roofs  and  balconies  of  the  houses, 
discharged  on  their  heads  boiling  oil,  pitch,  and  mis- 
siles of  every  description.  But  the  weapons  of  the 
Moors  glanced  comparatively  harmless  from  the  mailed 
armor  of  the  Spaniards,  while  their  own  bodies,  loosely 
arrayed  in  such  habiliments  as  they  could  throw  over 
them  in  the  confusion  of  the  night,  presented  a  fatal 
mark  to  their  enemies.  Still  they  continued  to  main- 
tain a  stout  resistance,  checking  the  progress  of  the 
Spaniards  by  barricades  of  timber  hastily  thrown  across 
the  streets  j  and,  as  their  intrenchments  were  forced 
one  after  another,  they  disputed  every  inch  of  ground 
with  the  desperation  of  men  who  fought  for  life,  for- 
tune, liberty, — all  that  was  most  dear  to  them.  The 
contest  hardly  slackened  till  the  close  of  day,  while 
the  kennels  literally  ran  with  blood,  and  every  avenue 
was  choked  up  with  the  bodies  of  the  slain.  At  length, 
however,  Spanish  valor  proved  triumphant  in  every 
quarter,  except  where  a  small  and  desperate  remnant 
of  the  Moors,  having  gathered  their  wives  and  children 
around  them,  retreated  as  a  last  resort  into  a  large 
mosque  near  the  walls  of  the  city,  from  which  they 
kept  up  a  galling  fire  on  the  close  ranks  of  the  Chris- 
tians. The  latter,  after  enduring  some  loss,  succeeded 
in  sheltering  themselves  so  effectually  under  a  roof  or 
canopy  constructed  of  their  own  shields,  in  the  manner 
practised  in  war  previous  to  the  exclusive  use  of  fire- 
arms, that  they  were  enabled  to  approach  so  near  the 
mosque  as  to  set  fire  to  its  doors;  when  its  tenants, 
menaced  with  suffocation,  made  a  desperate  sally,  in 
which  many  perished,  and  the  remainder  surrendered 
at  discretion.     The  prisoners  thus  made  were  all  mas- 


422 


jr//A'  OL    GRANADA. 


i 


sacred  on  the  spot,  witiiout  distinction  of  sex  or  age, 
according  to  the  Saracen  accounts.  But  the  Castilian 
writers  make  no  mention  of  this;  and,  as  the  appetites 
of  the  Spaniards  were  not  yet  stimulated  by  that  love 
of  carnage  which  they  afterwards  displayed  in  their 
American  wars,  and  which  was  repugnant  to  the  chival- 
rous spirit  with  which  their  contests  with  the  Moslems 
were  usually  conducted,  we  may  be  justified  in  regard- 
ing it  as  an  invention  of  the  enemy.^ 

Alhama  was  now  delivered  up  to  the  sack  of  the  sol- 
diery, and  rich  indeed  was  the  booty  which  fell  into 
their  hands, — gold  and  silver  plate,  pearls,  jewels,  fine 
silks  and  cloths,  curious  and  costly  furniture,  and  all 
the  various  appurtenances  of  a  thriving,  luxurious  city. 
In  addition  to  this,  the  magazines  were  found  well 
stored  with  the  more  substantial,  and  at  the  present 
juncture  more  serviceable,  supplies  of  grain,  oil,  and 
other  provisions.  Nearly  a  quarter  of  the  population 
is  said  to  have  perished  in  the  vp.ious  conflicts  of  the 
day,  and  the  remainder,  according  to  the  usage  of  the 
time,  became  the  prize  of  the  victors.  A  considerable 
number  of  Christian  captives,  who  were  found  immured 
in  the  public  prisons,  were  restored  to  freedom,  and 
swelled  the  general  jubilee  with  their  grateful  acclama- 
tions. The  contemporary  Castilian  chroniclers  record 
also,  with  no  less  satisfaction,  the  detection  of  a  Chris- 
tian renegade,  notorious  for  his  depredations  on  his 
countrymen,  whose  misdeeds  the  marquis  of  Cadiz 
requited  by  causing  him  to  be  hung  up  over  the  battle- 
ments of  the  castle,  in  the  face  of  the  whole  city.  Thus 

8  Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  ubi  supra. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Ca- 
t61icos,  pp.  182, 183. — Mariana,  Hist,  de  Espana,  torn.  ii.  pp.  545,  546. 


SLA'r/iJS£   £?/•  ALU  A  MA. 


423 


fell  the  ancient  city  of  Alhama,  the  first  conquest,  and 
achieved  with  a  gallantry  and  daring  unsurpassed  by 
any  other  during  this  memorable  war.' 

The  report  of  this  disaster  fell  like  the  knell  of  their 
own  doom  on  the  ears  of  the  inhabitants  of  Granada. 
It  seemed  as  if  the  hand  of  Providence  itself  must  iiave 
been  stretched  forth  to  smite  the  stately  city,  which, 
reposin/  it  were  under  the  shadow  of  their  own  walls, 
and  in  Dosom  of  a  peaceful  and  populous  country, 
was  thus  suddenly  laid  low  in  blood  and  ashes.  Men 
now  read  the  fulfilment  of  the  disastrous  omens  and 
predictions  which  ushered  in  the  capture  of  Zahara. 
The  melancholy  romance  or  ballad,  with  the  burden 
oi  Ay  de  mi  Alhama  /  "Woe  is  me,  Alhama!"  com- 
posed probably  by  some  one  of  the  nation  not  long 
after  this  event,  shows  how  deep  was  the  dejection 
which  settled  on  the  spirits  of  the  people.  The  old 
king,  Abul  Hacen,  however,  far  from  resigning  him- 
self to  useless  lamentation,  sought  to  retrieve  his  loss 
by  the  most  vigorous  measures.  A  body  of  a  thousand 
horse  was  sent  forward  to  reconnoitre  the  city,  while 
he  prepared  to  follow  with  as  powerful  levies  as  he 
could  enforce  of  the  militia  of  Granada." 

9  Bernaldez,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  52. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61i- 
cos.ubi  su.)ra.— Caidonne,  Hist,  de  I'Afrique  et  de  I'Espagne,  torn.  iii. 

P  254- 

ii-  "  Passeavase  el  Key  Moro 

Por  la  ciudad  de  Granada, 

Desde  las  puertas  de  Elvira 

Hasta  las  de  Bivarainbla. 

Ay  de  mi  Alhama  1 

"  Cartas  le  fueron  venidas 
Que  Alhama  era  ganada. 
Las  cartas  ech6  en  el  fuego 
V  n1  luensagero  matava. 
Av  de  mi  Alhama ! 


' 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


1.0 


I.I 


11.25 


Ui  Bii    12.2 

1^  ufi  no 

Uil 


^ 


^> 


y 


Hiotographic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


33  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)872-4503 


4^ 


k 


424 


IVAR   OF  GRANADA. 


The  intelligence  of  the  conquest  of  Alhama  diffused 
general  satisfaction  throughout  Castile,  and  was  espe- 
cially grateful  to  the  sovereigns,  who  welcomed  it  as  an 
auspicious  omen  of  the  ultimate  success  of  their  designs 
upon  the  Moors.  They  were  attending  mass  in  their 
royal  palace  of  Medina  del  Campo,  when  they  received 
despatches  from  the  marquis  of  Cadiz,  informing  them 
of  the  issue  of  his  enterprise.  **  During  all  the  while 
he  sat  at  dinner,"  says  a  precise  chronicler  of  the 
period,  "the  prudent  Ferdinand  was  revolving  in  his 
mind  the  course  best  to  be  adopted."  He  reflected 
that  the  Castilians  would  soon  be  beleaguered  by  an 
overwhelming  force  from  Granada,  and  he  determined 
at  all  hazards  to  support  them.  He  accordingly  gave 
orders  to  make  instant  preparation  for  departure,  but 
first  accompanied  the  queen,  attended  by  a  solemn 
procession  of  the  court  and  clergy,  to  the  cathedral 
church  of  St.  James,  where  Te  Deum  was  chanted,  and 

"  Hombres,  niSos  y  mugeres, 
Lloran  tan  grande  perdida. 
Lloravan  todas  las  damas 
Qiiantas  en  Granada  avia. 
Ay  de  mi  Alhama  I 

"  Por  las  calles  y  ventanas 
Mucho  Into  parecia ; 
Llora  el  Rey  como  fembra, 
Qu'  es  muclio  lo  que  perdia. 
Ay  de  mi  Alhama  I" 

The  romance,  according  to  Hita  (not  the  best  voucher  for  a  fact), 
caused  such  general  lamentation  that  it  ^yas  not  allowed  to  be  sung  by 
the  Moors  after  the  conquest.  (Guerras  civiles  de  Granada,  torn.  i.  p. 
350.)  Lord  Byron,  as  the  reader  recollects,  has  done  this  ballad  into 
English.  The  version  has  the  merit  of  fidelity.  It  is  not  his  fault  if  his 
Muse  appears  to  little  advantage  in  the  plebeian  dress  of  the  Moorish 
minstrel. 


SURPRISE   OF  ALHAMA. 


425 


a  humble  thanksgiving  offered  up  to  the  Lord  of  hosts 
for  the  success  with  which  he  had  crowned  their  arms. 
Towards  evening,  the  king  set  forward  on  his  journey 
to  the  south,  escorted  by  such  nobles  and  cavaliers  as 
were  in  attendance  on  his  person,  leaving  the  queen  to 
follow  more  leisurely,  after  having  provided  reinforce- 
ments and  supplies  requisite  for  the  prosecution  of  the 
war." 

On  the  5th  of  March,  the  king  of  Granada  appeared 
before  the  walls  of  Alhama,  with  an  army  which 
amounted  to  three  thousand  horse  and  fifty  thousand 
foot.  The  first  object  which  encountered  his  eyes  was 
the  mangled  remains  of  his  unfortunate  subjects,  which 
the  Christians,  who  would  have  been  scandalized  by  an 
attempt  to  give  them  the  rites  of  sepulture,  had  from 
dread  of  infection  thrown  over  the  walls,  where  they 
now  lay  half  devoured  by  birds  of  prey  and  the  raven- 
ous dogs  of  the  city.  The  Moslem  troops,  transported 
with  horror  and  indignation  at  this  hideous  spectacle, 
called  loudly  to  be  led  to  the  attack.  They  had  marched 
from  Granada  with  so  much  precipitation  that  they 
were  wholly  unprovided  with  artillery,  in  the  use  of 
which  they  were  expert  for  that  period,  and  which  was 
now  the  more  necessary,  as  the  Spaniards  had  diligently 
employed  the  few  days  which  intervened  since  their 
occupation  of  the  place  in  repairing  the  breaches  in 
the  fortifications  and  in  putting  them  in  a  posture  of 
defence.  But  the  Moorish  ranks  were  filled  with  the 
flower  of  their  chivalry ;  and  their  immense  superiority 

"  L.  Marineo,  Cosas  metnorables,  fol.  172. — Conde,  Dominacion 
de  los  Arabes,  torn.  iii.  cap.  34. — Carbajal,  Anales,  MS.,  ano  1482. — 
Mariana,  Hist,  de  Espana,  torn.  ii.  pp.  545,  546. 


\\ 


426 


k^AA'   OF  GRANADA. 


of  numbers  enabled  them  to  make  their  attacks  simul- 
taneously on  the  most  distant  quarters  of  the  town,  with 
such  unintermitted  vivacity  that  the  little  garrison, 
scarcely  allowed  a  moment  for  repose,  was  wellnigh 
exhausted  with  fatigue." 

At  length,  however,  Abul  Hacen,  after  the  loss  of 
more  than  two  thousand  of  his  bravest  troops  in  these 
precipitate  assaults,  became  convinced  of  the  impracti- 
cability of  forcing  a  position  whose  natural  strength  was 
so  ably  seconded  by  the  valor  of  its  defenders,  and  he 
determined  to  reduce  the  place  by  the  more  tardy  but 
certain  method  of  blockade.  In  this  he  was  favored 
by  one  or  two  circumstances.  .  'Ihe  town,  having  but -a 
single  well  within  its  walls,  was  almost  wholly  indebted 
for  its  supplies  of  water  to  the  river  which  flowed  at  its 
base.  The  Moors,  by  dint  of  great  labor,  succeeded  in 
diverting  the  stream  so  effectually  that  the  only  com- 
munication with  it  which  remained  open  to  the  be- 
sieged was  by  a  subterraneous  gallery  or  mine,  that  had 
probably  been  contrived  with  reference  to  some  such 
emergency  by  the  original  inhabitants.  The  mouth  of 
this  passage  was  commanded  in  such  a  manner  by  the 
Moorish  archers  that  no  egress  could  be  obtained  with- 
out a  regular  skirmish,  so  that  every  drop  of  water 
might  be  said  to  be  purchased  with  the  blood  of 
Christians,  who,  "if  they  had  not  possessed  the  cour- 
age of  Spaniards,"  says  a  Castilian  writer,  "would 


"  Bernaldez,  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS.,  cap.  52. — Bernaldez  swells  the 
Moslem  army  to  5500  horse  and  80,000  foot,  but  I  have  preferred  the 
more  moderate  and  probable  estimate  of  the  Arabic  authors.  Conde, 
Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  torn.  iii.  cap.  34. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos, 
oc.  cit. 


SUHPRISE   OF  ALHAMA. 


427 


have  been  reduced  to  the  last  extremity."  In  addition 
to  this  calamity,  the  garrison  began  to  be  menaced 
with  scarcity  of  provisions,  owing  to  the  improvident 
waste  of  the  soldiers,  who  supposed  that  the  city,  after 
being  plundered,  was  to  be  razed  to  the  ground  and 
abandoned. '3 

At  this  crisis  they  received  the  unwelcome  tidings  of 
the  failure  of  an  expedition  destined  for  their  relief  by 
Alonso  de  Aguilar.  This  cavalier,  the  chief  of  an  illus- 
trious house  since  rendered  immortal  by  the  renown  of 
his  younger  brother,  Gonsalvo  de  Cordova,  had  assem- 
bled a  considerable  body  of  troops,  on  learning  the 
capture  of  Alhama,  for  the  purpose  of  supporting  his 
friend  and  companion-in-arms  the  marquis  of  Cadiz. 
On  reaching  the  shores  of  the  Yeguas,  he  received,  for 
the  first  time,  advices  of  the  formidable  host  which 
lay  between  him  and  the  city,  rendering  hopeless  any 
attempt  to  penetrate  into  the  latter  with  his  inadequate 
force.  Contenting  himself,  therefore,  with  recovering 
the  baggage  which  the  marquis's  army  in  its  rapid 
march,  as  has  been  already  noticed,  had  left  on  the 
banks  of  the  river,  he  returned  to  Antequera.** 

Under  these  depressing  circumstances,  the  indomita- 
ble spirit  of  the  marquis  of  Cadiz  seemed  to  infuse  itself 
into  the  hearts  of  his  soldiers.  He  was  ever  in  the  front 
of  danger,  and  shared  the  privations  of  the  meanest  of 
his  followers :  encouraging  them  to  rely  with  undoubt- 
ing  confidence  on  the  sympathies  which  their  cause 
must  awaken  in  the  breasts  of  their  countrymen.     The 


>3  Garibay,  Compendio,  torn.  ii.  lib.  i3,  cap.  23. 
t61icos,  pp.  183,  184. 
«♦  Bemaldez,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  53. 


-Pulgar,  Reyes  Ca- 


\  I 


I 

I 

i  1 
i 


428 


WAH   OF  GRANADA. 


event  proved  that  he  did  not  miscalculate.  Soon  after 
the  occupation  of  Alhama,  the  marquis,  foreseeing  the 
difficulties  of  his  situation,  had  despatched  missives 
requesting  the  support  of  the  principal  lords  and  cities 
of  Andalusia.  In  this  summons  he  had  omitted  the 
duke  of  Medina  Sidonia,  as  one  who  had  good  reason 
to  take  umbrage  at  being  excluded  from  a  share  in  the 
original  enterprise.  Henrique  de  Guzman,  duke  of 
Medina  Sidonia,  possessed  a  degree  of  power  more  con- 
siderable than  any  other  chieftain  in  the  south.  His 
yearly  rents  amounted  to  nearly  sixty  thousand  ducats, 
and  he  could  bring  into  the  field,  it  was  said,  from  his 
own  resources  an  army  little  inferior  to  what  might  be 
raised  by  a  sovereign  prince.  He  had  succeeded  to  his 
inheritance  in  1468,  and  had  very  early  given  his  sup- 
port to  the  pretensions  of  Isabella.  Notwithstanding 
his  deadly  feud  with  the  marquis  of  Cadiz,  he  had  the 
generosity,  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  present  war,  to 
march  to  the  relief  of  the  marchioness  when  belea- 
guered, during  her  husband's  absence,  by  a  party  of 
Moors  from  Ronda,  in  her  own  castle  of  Arcos.  He 
now  showed  a  similar  alacrity  in  sacrificing  all  personal 
jealousy  at  the  call  of  patriotism. '^ 

No  sooner  did  he  learn  the  perilous  condition  of  his 
countrymen  in  Alhama  than  he  mustered  the  whole 
array  of  his  household  troops  and  retainers,  which 
when  combined  with  those  of  the  marquis  de  Villena, 
of  the  count  de  Cabra,  and  those  from  Seville,  in  which 
city  the  family  of  the  Guzmans  had  long  exercised  a 
sort  of  hereditary  influence,  swelled  to  the  number  of 

•5  Zufiiga,  Annates  de  Sevilla,  p.  360. — L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memora- 
bles,  fol.  24. 172. — Lobrija,  Rerum  Gestarum  Decades,  lib.  i,  cap.  3. 


SURPRISE   OF  ALHAMA. 


429 


five  thousand  horse  and  forty  thousand  foot.  The  duke 
of  Medina  Sidonia,  putting  himself  at  the  head  of  this 
powerful  body,  set  forward  without  delay  on  his  expe- 
dition. 

When  King  Ferdinand  in  his  progress  to  the  south 
had  reached  the  little  town  of  Adamuz,  about  five 
leagues  from  Cordova,  he  was  informed  of  the  advance 
of  the  Andalusian  chivalry,  and  instantly  sent  instruc- 
tions to  the  duke  to  delay  his  march,  as  he  intended  to 
come  in  person  and  assume  the  command.  But  the 
latter,  returning  a  respectful  apology  for  his  disobedi- 
ence, represented  to  his  master  the  extremities  to  which 
the  besieged  were  already  reduced,  and,  without  wait- 
ing for  a  reply,  pushed  on  with  the  utmost  vigor  for 
Alhama.  The  Moorish  monarch,  alarmed  at  the  ap- 
proach of  so  powerful  a  reinforcement,  saw  himself  in 
danger  of  being  hemmed  in  between  the  garrison  on 
the  one  side  and  these  new  enemies  on  the  other. 
Without  awaiting  their  appearance  on  the  crest  of  the 
eminence  which  separated  him  from  them,  he  hastily 
broke  up  his  encampment,  on  the  29th  of  March,  after 
a  siege  of  more  than  three  weeks,  and  retreated  on  his 
capital.^** 

The  garrison  of  Alhama  viewed  with  astonishment 
the  sudden  departure  of  their  enemies ;  but  their  wonder 
was  converted  into  joy  when  they  beheld  the  bright 
arms  and  banners  of  their  countrymen  gleaming  along 
the  declivities  of  the  mountains.    They  rushed  out  with 


\ 


^  Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  pp.  183,  184. — Bernaldez,  Reyes  Cat61i- 
cos,  MS.,  cap.  53. — Ferreras,  Hist.  d'Espagne,  torn.  vii.  p.  572. — Zufiiga, 
Annales  de  Sevilla,  pp.  392,  393. — Cardonne,  Hist,  de  I'Afrique  et 
de  I'Espagne,  torn.  iii.  p.  257. 


430 


IVA/l   OF  GRANADA. 


tumultuous  transport  to  receive  them  and  pour  forth 
their  grateful  acknowledgments,  while  the  two  com- 
manders, embracing  each  other  in  the  presence  of  their 
united  armies,  pledged  themselves  to  a  mutual  oblivion 
of  all  past  grievances;  thus  affording  to  the  nation  the 
best  possible  earnest  of  future  successes,  in  the  voluntary 
extinction  of  a  feud  which  had  desolated  it  for  so  many 
generations. 

Notwithstanding  the  kindly  feelings  excited  between 
the  two  armies,  a  dispute  had  wellnigh  arisen  respecting 
the  division  of  the  spoil,  in  which  the  duke's  army 
claimed  a  share,  as  having  contributed  to  secure  the 
conquest  which  their  more  fortunate  countrymen  had 
effected.  But  these  discontents  were  appeased,  though 
with  some  difficulty,  by  their  noble  leader,  who  be- 
sought his  men  not  to  tarnish  the  laurels  already  won, 
by  mingling  a  sordid  avarice  with  the  generous  motives 
which  had  prompted  them  to  the  expedition.  After 
the  necessary  time  devoted  to  repose  and  refreshment, 
the  combined  armies  proceeded  to  evacuate  Alhama, 
and,  having  left  in  garrison  Don  Diego  Merlo,  with  a 
corps  of  troops  of  the  hermandad,  returned  into  their 
own  territories.*' 

King  Ferdinand,  after  receiving  the  reply  of  the  duke 
of  Medina  Sidonia,  had  pressed  forward  his  march  by 
ihe  way  of  Cordova,  as  far  as  Lucena,  with  the  intention 
of  throwing  himself  at  all  hazards  into  Alhama.  He 
was,  not  without  much  difficulty,  dissuaded  from  this 
by  his  nobles,  who  represented  the  temerity  of  the 
enterprise,  and  its  incompetency  to  any  good  result, 

»7  Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  pp.  183-186. — Oviedo,  Quincuagenas, 
XfS.,  bat.  I,  quinc.  i,  dial.  a8. 


SURPRISE   OF  ALHAMA. 


43 » 


even  should  he  succeed,  with  the  small  force  of  which 
he  was  master.  On  receiving  intelligence  that  the 
siege  was  raised,  he  returned  to  Cordova,  where  he  was 
joined  by  the  queen  towards  the  latter  part  of  April. 
Isabella  had  been  employed  in  making  vigorous  prepa- 
ration for  carrying  on  the  war,  by  enforcing  the  requisite 
supplies,  and  summoning  the  crown  vassals,  and  the 
principal  nobility  of  the  north,  to  hold  themselves  in 
readiness  to  join  the  royal  standard  in  Andalusia.  After 
this,  she  proceeded  by  rapid  stages  to  Cordova,  not- 
withstanding the  state  of  pregnancy  in  which  she  was 
then  far  advanced. 

Here  the  sovereigns  received  the  unwelcome  informa- 
tion that  the  king  of  Granada,  on  the  retreat  of  the 
Spaniards,  had  again  sat  down  before  Alhama ;  having 
brought  with  him  artillery,  from  the  want  of  which  he 
had  suffered  so  much  in  the  preceding  siege.  This 
news  struck  a  damp  into  the  hearts  of  the  Castilians, 
many  of  whom  recommended  the  total  evacuation  of  a 
place  "which,"  they  said,  "was  so  near  the  capital 
that  it  must  be  perpetually  exposed  to  sudden  and  dan- 
gerous assaults;  while,  from  the  difficulty  of  n  xning 
it,  it  would  cost  the  Castilians  an  incalculable  vaste 
of  blood  and  treasure  in  its  defence.  It  was  experience 
of  these  evils  which  had  led  to  its  abandonment  in 
former  days,  when  it  had  been  recovered  by  the  Spanish 
arms  from  the  Saracens." 

Isabella  was  far  from  being  shaken  by  these  argu- 
ments. "  Glory,"  she  said,  "  was  not  to  be  won  with- 
out danger.  The  present  war  was  one  of  peculiar 
difficulties  and  danger,  and  these  had  been  well  calcu- 
lated before  entering  upon  it.     The  strong  and  central 


43* 


fT^A'   OF  GRANADA. 


position  of  Alhama  made  it  of  the  last  importance, 
since  it  might  be  regarded  as  the  key  of  the  enemy's 
country.  This  was  the  first  blow  struck  during  the  war, 
and  honor  and  policy  alike  forbade  them  to  adopt  a 
measure  which  could  not  fail  to  damp  the  ardor  of  the 
nation."  This  opinion  of  the  queen,  thus  decisively 
expressed,  determined  the  question,  and  kindled  a 
spark  of  her  own  enthusiasm  in  the  breasts  of  the  most 
desponding." 

It  was  settled  that  the  king  should  march  to  the  relief 
of  the  besieged,  taking  with  him  the  most  ample  sup- 
plies of  forage  and  provisions,  at  the  head  of  a  force 
strong  enough  to  compel  the  retreat  of  the  Moorish 
monarch.  This  was  effected  without  delay ;  and,  Abul 
Hacen  once  more  breaking  up  his  camp  on  the  rumor 
of  Ferdinand's  approach, ^le  latter  took  possession  of 
the  city,  without  opposition,  on  the  14th  of  May.  The 
king  was  attended  by  a  splendid  train  of  his  prelates 
and  principal  nobility ;  and  he  prepared  with  their  aid 
to  dedicate  his  new  conquest  to  the  service  of  the  cross, 
with  all  the  formalities  of  the  Romish  church.  After 
the  ceremony  of  purification,  the  three  principal 
mosques  of  the  city  were  consecrated  by  the  cardinal 
of  Spain,  as  temples  of  Christian  worship.  Bells, 
crosses,  a  sumptuous  service  of  plate,  and  other  sacred 
utensils,  were  liberally  furnished  by  the  queen ;  and  the 

>8  Bemaldez,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  53,  54. — Pulgar  states  that 
Ferdinand  took  the  more  southern  route  of  Antequera,  where  he  re- 
ceived the  tidings  of  the  Moorish  king's  retreat.  The  discrepancy  is 
of  no  great  consequence ;  but  as  Bemaldez,  whom  I  have  followed, 
lived  in  Andalusia,  the  theatre  of  action,  he  may  be  supposed  to  have 
had  more  accurate  means  of  information. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Catdlicos, 
pp.  187.  188. 


SURPHISE   OF  A  L  HA  MA. 


433 


es  that 
he  re- 
ncy  is 
lowed, 
o  have 
olicos, 


principal  church  of  Santa  Maria  de  la  Encarnacion  long 
exhibited  a  covering  of  the  altar,  richly  embroidered  by 
her  own  hands.  Isabella  lost  no  opportunity  of  mani- 
festing that  she  had  entered  into  the  war  less  from  mo- 
tives of  ambition  than  of  zeal  for  the  exaltation  of  the 
true  faith.  AAer  the  completion  of  these  ceremonies, 
Ferdinand,  having  strengthened  the  garrison  with  new 
recruits  under  the  command  of  Portocarrero,  lord  of 
Palma,  and  victualled  it  with  three  months'  provisions, 
prepared  for  a  foray  into  the  vega  of  Granada.  This 
he  executed  in  the  true  spirit  of  that  merciless  warfare 
so  repugnant  to  the  more  civilized  usage  of  later  times, 
not  only  by  sweeping  away  the  green,  unripened  crops, 
but  by  cutting  down  the  trees  and  eradicating  the  vines, 
and  then,  without  so  much  as  having  broken  a  lance  in 
the  expedition,  returned  in  triumph  to  Cordova. *> 

Isabella  in  the  mean  while  was  engaged  in  active 
measures  for  prosecuting  the  war.  She  issued  orders 
to  the  various  cities  of  Castile  and  Leon,  as  far  as  the 
borders  of  Biscay  and  Guipuscoa,  prescribing  the  re- 
partimientOy  or  subsidy  of  provisions,  and  the  quot^  of 

>9  Oviedo,  Quincuagenas,  MS.,  bat.  i,  quinc.  i,  dial.  28. — Qemal- 
dez,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  54, 55. — Lebrija,  Rerum  Gestarum  De- 
cades, lib.  X,  cap.  6. — Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  cap.  34. — 
Salazarde  Mendoza,  Cr6n.  del  Gran  Cardenal,  pp.  180, 181. — Marmol, 
Rebelion  de  los  Moriscos,  lib.  i,  cap.  12. — Dunng  this  second  siege, 
a  body  of  Moorish  knights,  to  the  number  of  forty,  succeeded  in 
scaling  the  wralls  of  the  city  in  the  night,  and  had  nearly  reached  the 
gates  with  the  intention  of  throwing  them  open  to  their  countrymen, 
when  they  were  overpowered,  after  a  desperate  resistance,  by  ^e 
Christians,  who  acquired  a  rich  booty,  as  many  of  the  captives  were 
persons  of  rank.  There  is  considerable  variation  in  the  authorities  in 
regard  to  the  date  of  Ferdinand's  occupation  of  Alhama.  I  haye  ^en 
guided,  as  before,  by  Bemaldez. 
Vol..  I.— 28  T 


>B 


t•^:■ 


-!»- 


434 


IVA^    OF  GRANADA. 


troops,  to  be  furiiished  by  each  district  respectively, 
together  with  an  adequate  supply  of  ammunition  and 
artillery.  The  whole  were  to  be  in  readiness  before 
Loja  by  the  ist  of  July  ;  when  Ferdinand  was  to  take 
the  field  in  person  at  the  head  of  his  chivalry,  and  be- 
siege that  strong  post.  As  advices  were  received  that 
the  Moors  of  Granada  were  making  efforts  to  obtain  the 
co-operation  of  their  African  brethren  in  support  of  the 
Mahometan  empire  in  Spain,  the  queen  caused  a  fleet 
to  be  manned  under  the  command  of  her  two  best  ad- 
mirals, with  instructions  to  sweep  the  Mediterranean  as 
far  as  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  and  thus  effectually  cut 
off  all  communication  with  the  Barbary  coast." 

«>  Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  pp.  i88,  189. 


CHAPTER   X. 


WAR  OF   GRANADA. — UNSUCCESSFUL  ATTEMPT    ON    LOJA. 
— DEFEAT    IN   THE   AXARQUIA. 

X482-X483. 

Unsuccessful  Attempt  on  Loja.— Revolution  in  Granada.— Expedition 
to  the  Axarquia. — Military  Array. — Moorish  Preparations. — Bloody 
Conflict  among  the  Mountains. — The  Spaniards  force  a  Passage.— 
The  Marquis  of  Cadiz  escapes. 

Loja  stands  not  many  leagues  from  Alhama,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Xenil,  which  rolls  its  clear  current  through 
a  valley  luxuriant  with  vineyards  and  olive-gardens; 
but  the  city  is  deeply  intrenched  among  hills  of  so 
rugged  an  aspect  that  it  has  been  led  not  inappro- 
priately to  assume  as  the  motto  on  its  arms,  "A  flower 
among  thorns."  Under  the  Moors,  it  was  defended  by 
a  strong  fortress,  while  the  Xenil,  circumscribing  it  like 
a  deep  moat  upon  the  south,  formed  an  excellent  pro- 
tection against  the  approaches  of  a  besieging  army; 
since  the  river  was  fordable  only  in  one  place,  and 
traversed  by  a  single  bridge,  which  might  be  easily 
commanded  from  the  city.  In  addition  to  these  ad- 
vantages, the  king  of  Granada,  taking  warning  from 
the  fate  of  Alhama,  had  strengthened  its  garrison  with 
three  thousand  of  his  choicest  troops,  under  the  com- 

(435) 


43^ 


IVA/l   OF  GRANADA. 


mand  of  a  skilful  and  experienced  warrior,  named  Ali 
Atar.» 

In  the  mean  while,  the  efforts  of  the  Spanish  sover- 
eigns to  procure  supplies  adequate  to  the  undertaking 
against  Loja  had  not  been  crowned  with  success.  The 
cities  and  districts,  on  which  the  requisitions  had  been 
made,  had  discovered  the  tardiness  usual  in  such  un- 
wieldy bodies ;  and  their  interest,  moreover,  was  con- 
siderably impaired  by  theii  distance  from  the  theatre 
of  action.  Ferdinand  on  mustering  his  army,  towards 
the  latter  part  of  June,  found  that  it  did  not  exceed 
four  thousand  horse  and  twelve  thousand,  or  indeed, 
according  to  some  accounts,  eight  thousand  foot ;  most 
of  them  raw  militia,  who,  poorly  provided  with  military 
stores  and  artillery,  formed  a  force  obviously  inade- 
quate to  the  magnitude  of  his  enterprise.  Some  of 
his  counsellors  would  have  persuaded  him,  from  these 
considerations,  to  turn  his  arms  against  some  weaker 
and  more  assailable  point  than  Loja.  But  Ferdinand 
burned  v«rith  a  desire  for  distinction  in  the  new  war,  and 
suffered  his  ardor  for  once  to  get  the  better  of  his  pru- 
dence. The  distrust  felt  by  the  leaders  seems  to  have 
infected  the  lower  ranks,  who  drew  the  most  unfavor- 
able prognostics  from  the  dejected  mien  of  those  who 
bore  the  royal  standard  to  the  cathedral  of  Cordova 
in  order  to  receive  the  benediction  of  the  church  before 
entering  on  the  expedition.' 

I  Estrada,  Poblacion  de  Espana,  torn.  ii.  pp.  242, 343. — Zurita,  Ana- 
les,  torn.  iv.  fol.  317. — Cardonne,  Hist,  de  I'Afrique  et  de  I'Espagne,  torn. 
iii.  p.  261. 

3  Bemaldez,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  58. — Mariana,  Hist,  de  Es- 
pafia,  torn.  ii.  pp.  349,  250. — Cardonne,  Hist,  de  I'Afrique  et  de  I'Es- 
pagne, torn.  iii.  pp.  359,  360. 


1    1. 


ROUT  IN  THE  AXARQUIA. 


437 


Ferdinand,  crossing  the  Xenil  at  Ecija,  arrived  again 
on  its  banks  before  Loja  on  the  ist  of  July.  The 
army  encamped  among  the  hills,  whose  deep  ravines 
obstructed  communication  between  its  different  quar- 
ters ;  while  the  level  plains  below  were  intersected  by 
numerous  canals,  equally  unfavorable  to  the  manoeuvres 
of  the  men-at-arms.  The  duke  of  Villa  Hermosa,  the 
king's  brother,  and  captain-general  of  the  hermandad, 
an  officer  of  large  experience,  would  have  persuaded 
Ferdinand  to  attempt,  by  throwing  bridges  across  the 
river  lower  down  the  stream,  to  approach  the  city  on 
the  other  side.  But  his  counsel  was  overruled  by  the 
Castilian  officers,  to  whom  the  location  of  the  camp 
had  been  intrusted,  and  who  neglected,  according  to 
Zurita,  to  advise  with  the  Andalusian  chiefs,  although  far 
better  instructed  than  themselves  in  Moorish  warfare. ^ 

A  large  detachment  of  the  army  was  ordered  to 
occupy  a  lofty  eminence,  at  some  distance,  called  the 
Heights  of  Albohacen,  and  to  fortify  it  with  such  few 
pieces  of  ordnance  as  they  had,  with  the  view  of  an- 
noying the  city.  This  commission  was  intrusted  to 
the  marquises  of  Cadiz  and  Villena,  and  the  grand 
master  of  Calatrava ;  which  last  nobleman  had  brought 
to  the  field  about  four  hundred  horse  and  a  large  body 
of  infantry  from  the  places  belonging  to  his  order  in 
Andalusia.  Before  the  intrenchment  could  be  fully 
completed,  Ali  Atar,  discerning  the  importance  of  this 
commanding  station,  made  a  sortie  from  the  town,  for 
the  purpose  of  dislodging  his  enemies.  The  latter 
poured  out  from  their  works  to  encounter  him ;  but  the 

3  L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  173. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Catdlicos, 
p.  187. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  316,  317. 


•  :; 


438 


fVAH   OF  GRANADA. 


Moslem  general,  scarcely  waiting  to  receive  the  shock, 
wheeled  his  squadrons  round,  and  began  a  precipitate 
retreat.  The  Spaniards  eagerly  pursued ;  but,  when 
they  had  been  drawn  to  a  sufficient  distance  from  the 
redoubt,  a  party  of  Moorish  ginetes,  or  light  cavalry, 
who  had  crossed  the  river  unobserved  during  the  night 
and  lain  in  ambush,  after  the  wily  fashion  of  Arabian 
tactids,  darted  from  their  place  of  concealment,  and, 
galloping  into  the  deserted  camp,  plundered  it  of  its 
contents,  including  the  lombards,  or  small  pieces  of 
artillery,  with  which  it  was  garnished.  The  Castilians, 
too  late  perceiving  their  error,  halted  from  the  pursuit, 
and  returned  with  as  much  speed  as  possible  to  the 
defence  of  their  camp.  Ali  Atar,  turning  also,  hung 
close  on  their  rear,  so  that  when  the  Christians  arrived 
at  the  summit  of  the  hill  they  found  themselves 
hemmed  in  between  the  two  divisions  of  the  Moorish 
army.  A  brisk  action  now  ensued,  and  lasted  nearly 
an  hour ;  when  the  advance  of  reinforcements  from  the 
main  body  of  the  Spanish  army,  which  had  been  de- 
layed by  distance  and  impediments  on  the  road,  com" 
pelled  the  Moors  to  a  prompt  but  orderly  retreat  into 
their  own  city.  The  Christians  sustained  a  heavy  loss, 
particularly  in  the  death  of  Rodrigo  Tellez  Giron, 
grand  master  of  Calatrava.  He  was  hit  by  two  arrows, 
one  of  which,  penetrating  the  joints  of  his  harness 
beneath  his  sword-arm  as  he  was  in  the  act  of  raising 
it,  inflicted  on  him  a  mortal  wound,  of  which  he  ex- 
pired in  a  few  hours,  says  an  old  chronicler,  after  hav- 
ing confessed,  and  performed  the  last  duties  of  a  good 
and  faithful  Christian.  Although  scarcely  twenty-four 
years  of  age,  this  cavalier  had  given  proofs  of  such 


ROUT  IN  THE  AXARQUIA. 


439 


signal  prowess  that  he  was  esteemed  one  of  the  best 
knights  of  Castile;  and  his  death  threw  a  general 
gloom  over  the  army.* 

Ferdinand  now  became  convinced  of  the  unsuitable- 
ness  of  a  position  which  neither  admitted  of  easy  com- 
munication between  the  different  quarters  of  his  own 
camp  nor  enabled  him  to  intercept  the  supplies  daily 
passing  into  that  of  his  enemy.  Other  inconveniences 
also  pressed  upon  him.  His  men  were  so  badly  pro- 
vided with  the  necessary  utensils  for  dressing  their  food 
that  they  were  obliged  to  devour  it  raw,  or  only  half 
cooked.  Most  of  them  being  new  recruits,  unaccus- 
tomed to  the  privations  of  war,  and  many  exhausted 
by  a  wearisome  length  of  march  before  joining  the 
army,  they  began  openly  to  murmur,  and  even  to 
desert  in  great  numbers.  Ferdinand  therefore  resolved 
to  fall  back  as  far  as  Rio  Frio,  and  await  there  patiently 
the  arrival  of  such  fresh  reinforcements  as  might  put 
him  in  condition  to  enforce  a  more  rigorous  blockade. 

Orders  were  accordingly  issued  to  the  cavaliers  occu- 
pying the  Heights  of  Albohacen  to  break  up  their  camp 
and  fall  back  on  the  main  body  of  the  army.  This  was 
executed  on  the  following  morning  before  dawn,  being 
the  4th  of  July.  No  sooner  did  the  Moors  of  Loja  per- 
ceive their  enemy  abandoning  his  strong  position,  than 
they  sallied  forth  in  considerable  force  to  take  posses- 
sion of  it.  Ferdinand's  men,  who  had  not  been  ad- 
vised of  the  proposed  manoeuvre,  no  sooner  beheld  the 

4  Rades  y  Andrada,  Las  tres  Ordencs,  fol.  8o,  8i. — L.  Marineo, 
Cosas  meraorables,  fol.  173. — Lebrija,  Reram  Gestarum  Decades,  ii. 
lib.  I,  cap.  7. — Conde,  Dotninacion  de  los  Arabes,  torn.  iii.  p.  214.— 
Carbajal,  Anales,  MS.,  afio  1482. 


ijSI; 


44© 


HTAX   OF  GRANADA. 


Moorish  array  brightening  the  crest  of  the  mountain, 
and  their  own  countrymen  rapidly  descending,  than 
they  imagined  that  these  latter  had  been  surprised  in 
their  intrenchments  during  the  night,  and  were  now 
flying  before  the  enemy.  An  alarm  instantly  spread 
through  the  whole  camp.  Instead  of  standing  to  their 
defence,  each  one  thought  only  of  saving  himself  by 
as  speedy  a  flight  as  possible.  In  vain  did  Ferdinand, 
riding  along  their  broken  files,  endeavor  to  reanimate 
their  spirits  and  restore  order.  He  might  as  easily 
have  calmed  the  winds,  as  the  disorder  of  a  panic-struck 
mob,  unschooled  by  discipline  or  experience.  Ali  Atar's 
practised  eye  speedily  discerned  the  confusion  which 
prevailed  through  the  Christian  camp.  Without  delay, 
he  rushed  forth  impetuously  at  the  head  of  his  whole 
array  from  the  gates  of  Loja,  and  converted  into  a  real 
danger  what  had  before  been  only  an  imaginary  one.^ 
At  this  perilous  moment,  nothing  but  Ferdinand's 
coolness  could  have  saved  the  army  from  total  destruc- 
tion. Putting  himself  at  the  head  of  the  royal  guard, 
and  accompanied  by  a  gallant  band  of  cavaliers,  who 
held  honor  dearer  than  life,  he  made  such  a  determined 
stand  against  the  Moorish  advance  that  Ali  Atar  was 
compelled  to  pause  in  his  career.  A  furious  struggle 
ensued  betwixt  this  devoted  little  band  and  the  whole 
strength  of  the  Moslem  army.  Ferdinand  was  repeat- 
edly exposed  to  imminent  peril.  On  one  occasion  he 
was  indebted  for  his  safety  to  the  marquis  of  Cadiz, 
who,  charging  at  the  head  of  about  sixty  lances,  broke 

s  Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat6licos,  pp.  189-191. — Bemaldez,  Reyes  Cat61icos, 
MS.,  cap.  58. — Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes.tom.  iii.  pp.  214-917. 
— Cardonne,  Hist,  de  I'Afrique  et  de  I'Elspagne,  torn.  iii.  pp.  360,  a6i. 


ROUT  IN  THE  AXARQUIA. 


441 


he 


the  deep  ranks  of  the  Moorish  column,  and,  compelling 
it  to  recoil,  succeeded  in  rescuing  his  sovereign.  In 
this  adventure  he  narrowly  escaped  with  his  own  life, 
his  horse  being  shot  under  him  at  the  very  moment 
when  he  had  lost  his  lance  in  the  body  of  a  Moor. 
Never  did  the  Spanish  chivalry  shed  its  blood  more 
freely.  The  constable,  count  de  Haro,  received  three 
wounds  in  the  face.  The  duke  of  Medina  Celi  was 
unhorsed  and  brought  to  the  ground,  and  saved  with 
difficulty  by  his  own  men ;  and  the  count  of  Tendilla, 
whose  encampment  lay  nearest  the  city,  received  several 
severe  blows,  and  would  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
the  enemy,  had  it  not  been  for  the  timely  aid  of  his 
friend  the  young  count  of  Zufiiga. 

The  Moors,  finding  it  so  difficult  to  make  an  im- 
pression on  this  iron  band  of  warriors,  began  at  length 
to  slacken  their  efforts,  and  finally  allowed  Ferdinand 
to  draw  off  the  remnant  of  his  forces  without  further 
opposition.  The  king  continued  his  retreat,  without 
halting,  as  far  as  the  romantic  site  of  the  Pefia  de  los 
Enamorados,  about  seven  leagues  distant  from  Loja, 
and,  abandoning  all  thoughts  of  offensive  operations 
for  the  present,  soon  after  returned  to  Cordova.  Muley 
Abul  Hacen  arrived  the  following  day  with  a  powerful 
reinforcement  from  Granada,  and  swept  the  country 
as  far  as  Rio  Frio.  Had  he  come  but  a  few  hours 
sooner,  there  would  have  been  few  Spaniards  left  to  tell 
the  tale  of  the  rout  of  Loja.* 


ii 


*  Bernaldez,  Reyes  Catdlicos,  MS.,  cap.  58. — Conde,  Dominacion 
de  los  Arabes,  torn.  iii.  pp.  214-217. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  ubi 
supra. — Lebrija,  Rerum  Gc^iarum  Decades,  ii.  lib.  i,  cap.  7. — The 
Peika  dt  los  Enamorados  received  its  name  from  a  tragical  incident  in 

T* 


!       . 


i  \ 


442 


PyAX   OF  GRANADA. 


i 


'A 


t! 


The  loss  of  the  Christians  must  have  been  very  con- 
siderable, including  the  greater  part  of  the  baggage  and 
the  artillery.  It  occasioned  deep  mortification  to  the 
queen ;  but,  though  a  severe,  it  proved  a  salutary  lesson. 
It  showed  the  importance  of  more  extensive  prepara- 
tions for  a  war  which  must  of  necessity  be  a  war  of 
posts;  and  it  taught  the  nation  to  entertain  greater 
respect  for  an  enemy  who,  whatever  might  be  his  natural 
strength,  must  become  formidable  when  armed  with  the 
energy  of  despair. 

At  this  juncture,  a  division  among  the  Moors  them- 
selves did  more  for  the  Christians  than  any  successes 
of  their  own.  This  division  grew  out  of  the  vicious 
system  of  polygamy,  which  sows  the  seeds  of  discord 
among  those  whom  nature  and  our  own  happier  insti- 
^tutions  unite  most  closely.  The  old  king  of  Granada 
had  become  so  deeply  enamored  of  a  Greek  slave  that 
the  Sultana  Zoraya,  jealous  lest  the  offspring  of  her 

Moorish  history.  A  Christian  slave  succeeded  in  inspiring  the  daughter 
of  his  master,  a  wealthy  Mussulman  of  Granada,  with  a  passion  for  him- 
self. The  two  lovers,  after  some  time,  fearful  of  the  detection  of  their 
intrigue,  resolved  to  make  their  escape  into  the  Spanish  territory.  Be- 
fore they  could  effect  their  purpose,  however,  they  were  hotly  pursued 
by  the  damsel's  father  at  the  head  of  a  party  of  Moorish  horsemen,  and 
overtaken  near  a  precipice  which  rises  between  Archidona  and  Ante- 
quera.  The  unfortunate  fugitives,  who  had  scrambled  to  the  summit 
of  the  rocks,  finding  all  further  escape  impracticable,  after  tenderly 
embracing  each  other,  threw  themselves  headlong  from  the  dizzy 
heights,  preferring  this  dreadful  death  to  falling  into  the  hands  of  their 
vindictive  pursuers.  The  spot  consecrated  as  the  scene  of  this  tragic 
incident  has  received  the  name  of  Rock  of  the  Lovers.  The  legend  is 
prettily  told  by  Mariana  (Hist,  de  Espafia,  tom.  ii.  pp.  253,  254),  who 
concludes  with  the  pithy  reflection  that  "  such  constancy  would  have 
been  truly  admirable  had  it  been  shown  in  defence  of  the  true  &ith, 
rather  than  in  the  gratification  of  lawless  appetite." 


ROUT  IN  THE  AXARQUIA. 


443 


rival  should  supplant  her  own  in  the  succession,  secretly 
contrived  to  stir  up  a  spirit  of  discontent  with  her  hus- 
band's government.  The  king,  becoming  acquainted 
with  her  intrigues,  caused  her  to  be  imprisoned  in  the 
fortress  of  the  Alhambra.  But  the  sultana,  binding 
together  the  scarfs  and  veils  belonging  to  herself  and 
attendants,  succeeded,  by  means  of  this  perilous  con- 
veyance, in  making  her  escape,  together  with  her  chil- 
dren, from  the  upper  apartments  of  the  tower  in  which 
she  was  lodged.  She  was  received  with  joy  by  her  own 
faction.  The  insurrection  soon  spread  among  the  popu- 
lace, who,  yielding  to  the  impulses  of  nature,  are  readily 
roused  by  a  tale  of  oppression ;  and  the  number  was 
still  further  swelled  by  many  of  higher  rank,  who  had 
various  causes  of  disgust  with  the  oppressive  govern- 
ment of  Abul  Hacen.'  The  strong  fortress  of  the 
Alhambra,  however,  remained  faithful  to  him.  A  war 
now  burst  forth  in  the  capital  which  deluged  its  streets 
with  the  blood  of  its  citizens.  At  length  the  sultana 
triumphed ;  Abul  Hacen  was  expelled  from  Granada, 
and  sought  a  refuge  in  Malaga,  which,  with  Baza, 
Guadix,  and  some  other  places  of  importance,  still  ad- 
hered to  him ;  while  Granada,  and  by  far  the  larger 
portion  of  the  kingdom,  proclaimed  the  authority  of 


1  Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  torn.  iii.  pp.  214-217. — Car- 
donne,  Hist,  de  TAfrique  et  de  I'Elspagne,  torn.  iii.  pp.  262, 263. — Mar- 
mot, Rebelion  de  los  Moriscos,  lib.  i,  cap.  12. — Bemaldez  states  that 
great  umbrage  was  taken  at  the  influence  which  the  king  of  Granada 
allowed  a  person  of  Christian  lineage,  named  Benegas,  to  exercise  over 
him.  Pulgar  hints  at  the  bloody  massacre  of  the  Abencerrages,  which, 
without  any  better  authority  that  I  know  of,  forms  the  burden  of  many 
an  ancient  ballad,  and  has  lost  nothing  of  its  romantic  coloring  under 
the  hand  of  Gin^s  Perez  de  Hita. 


444 


fVAX  OF  GRANADA. 


w 


his  elder  son,  Abu  Abdallah,  or  Boabdil,  as  he  is  usually 
called  by  the  Castilian  writers.  The  Spanish  sovereigns 
viewed  with  no  small  interest  these  proceedings  of  the 
Moors,  who  were  thus  wantonly  fighting  the  battles  of 
their  enemies.  All  proffers  of  assistance  on  their  part, 
however,  being  warily  rejected  by  both  factions,  not- 
withstanding the  mutual  hatred  between  them,  they 
could  only  await  with  patience  the  termination  of  a 
struggle  which,  whatever  might  be  its  results  in  other 
respects,  could  not  fail  to  open  the  way  for  the  success 
of  their  own  arms.' 

No  military  operations  worthy  of  notice  occurred 
during  the  remainder  of  the  campaign,  except  occa- 
sional cavaigadas,  or  inroads,  on  both  sides,  which, 
after  the  usual  unsparing  devastation,  swept  away  whole 


'  Cardonne,  Hist,  de  I'Afrique  et  de  I'Espagnc,  ubi  supra. — Conde, 
Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  ubi  supra. — Boabdil  was  sumamed  "  el 
Chico,"  the  Little,  by  the  Spanish  writers,  to  distinguish  him  from  an 
uncle  of  the  same  name ;  and  "  el  Zogoybi,"  the  Unfortunate,  by  the 
Moors,  indicating  that  he  was  the  last  of  his  race  destined  to  wear  the 
diadem  of  Granada.  The  Arabs,  with  great  felicity,  frequently  select 
names  significant  of  some  quality  in  the  objects  they  represent.  Examples 
of  this  may  be  readily  found  in  the  southern  regions  of  the  Peninsula, 
where  the  Moors  lingered  the  longest.  The  etymology  of  Gibraltar, 
Gebal  Tarik,  Mount  of  Tarik,  is  well  known,  llius,  Algeziras  comes 
from  an  Arabic  word  which  signifies  an  island;  Alpujarras  comes  fi-om 
a  term  signifying  herbage  or  pasturage;  Arrecifefrom  another,  signify- 
ing causeway  or  highroad,  etc.  The  Arabic  word  wad  stands  for  river. 
This  without  much  violence  has  been  changed  into  guad,  and  enters 
into  the  names  of  many  of  the  southern  streams ;  for  example,  Guadal- 
quivir, great  river,  Guadiana,  narrow  or  little  river,  Guadalete,  etc.  In 
the  same  manner  the  term  Medina,  signifying  "  city,"  has  been  retained 
as  a  prefix  to  the  names  of  many  of  the  Spanish  towns,  as  Medina  Cell, 
Medina  del  Campo,  etc.  See  Conde's  notes  to  £1  Nubiense,  Descrip- 
cion  de  Espafia,  passim. 


ROUT  IN  THE  AXARQUIA. 


445 


herds  of  cattle,  and  human  beings,  the  wretched  culti- 
vators of  the  soil.  The  quantity  of  booty  frequently 
carried  off  on  such  occasions,  amounting,  according  to 
the  testimony  of  both  Christian  and  Moorish  writers, 
to  twenty,  thirty,  and  even  fifty  thousand  head  of  cattle, 
shows  the  fruitfulness  and  abundant  pasturage  in  the 
southern  regions  of  the  Peninsula.  The  loss  inflicted 
by  these  terrible  forays  fell,  eventually,  most  heavily 
on  Granada,  in  consequence  of  her  scanty  territory  and 
insulated  po  'tion,  which  cut  her  off  from  all  foreign 
resources. 

Towards  the  end  of  October,  the  court  passed  from 
Cordova  to  Madrid,  with  the  intention  of  remaining 
there  the  ensuing  winter.  Madrid,  it  may  be  observed, 
however,  was  so  far  from  being  recognized  as  the 
capital  of  the  monarchy  at  this  time,  that  it  was  in- 
ferior to  several  other  cities  in  wealth  and  population, 
and  was  even  less  frequented  than  some  others,  Valla- 
dolid  for  example,  as  a  royal  residence. 

On  the  ist  of  July,  while  the  court  was  at  Cordova, 
died  Alfonso  de  Carillo,  the  factious  archbishop  of 
Toledo,  who  contributed  more  than  any  other  to  raise 
Isabella  to  the  throne,  and  who,  with  the  same  arm, 
had  wellnigh  hurled  her  from  it.  He  passed  the  close 
of  his  life  in  retirement  and  disgrace  at  his  town  of 
Alcalade  Henares,  where  he  devoted  himself  to  science, 
especially  to  alchemy ;  in  which  illusory  pursuit  he  is 
said  to  have  squandered  his  princely  revenues  with  such 
prodigality  as  to  leave  them  encumbered  with  a  heavy 
debt.  He  was  succeeded  in  the  primacy  by  his  ancient 
rival,  Don  Pedro  Gonzalez  de  Mendoza,  cardinal  of 
Spain ;  a  prelate  whose  enlarged  and  sagacious  views 


I  i 


I  *' 


446 


H^A^   OF  GRANADA, 


gained  him  deserved  ascendency  in  the  councils  of  his 
sovereigns.' 

The  importance  of  their  domestic  concerns  did  not 
prevent  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  from  giving  a  vigilant 
attention  to  what  was  passing  abroad.  The  conflicting 
relations  growing  out  of  the  feudal  system  occupied 
most  princes,  till  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
too  closely  at  home  to  allow  them  often  to  turn  their 
eyes  beyond  the  borders  of  their  own  territories.  This 
system  was,  indeed,  now  rapidly  melting  away.  But 
Louis  the  Eleventh  may  perhaps  be  regarded  as  the  first 
monarch  who  showed  anything  like  an  extended  interest 
in  European  politics.  He  informed  himself  of  the 
interior  proceedings  of  most  of  the  neighboring  courts, 
by  means  of  secret  agents  whom  he  pensioned  there. 
Ferdinand  obtained  a  similar  result  by  the  more  hon- 
orable expedient  of  resident  embassies,  a  practice 
which  he  is  said  to  have  introduced,"  and  which,  while 

9  Salazar  de  Mendoza,  Cr6n.  del  Gran  Cardenal,  p.  i8i. — Pulgar, 
Claros  Varones,  tit.  ao. — Carbajal,  Anales,  MS.,  afto  1483. — Aleson, 
Anales  de  Navarra,  torn.  v.  p.  11,  ed.  1766. — Peter  Martyr,  Opus  Epist., 
epist.  158. 

"  Fred.  Marslaar,  De  Leg.  2,  11. — M.  de  Wicquefort  derives  the 
word  atnbassadeur  (anciently  in  English  embassador)  from  the  Spanish 
word  embiar,  "  to  send."  See  Rights  of  Embassadors,  translated  by 
Digby  (London,  1740),  book  i,  chap,  i.* 


*  [Embassador,  the  older  English  form,  may  have  come  directly 
from  the  Spanish  embajador;  but  ambassiator,  ambasciator  and  am- 
baxiator  are  mediaeval  Latin  forms,  derived  usually  from  ambactus 
(see  Ducange),  while  ambassador,  as  an  Italian  form,  occurs  at  least  as 
early  as  1470,  under  which  date  the  Venetian  diarist  Malipieri  men- 
tions an  instance  of  a  permanent  embassy  several  years  prior  to  Fer 
dinand's  accession.  ("  La  signoria  se  intende  ben  co'l  duca  Carlo  de 
Boigogna,  al  quol  se  tien  un  ambassador  que  fa  residenza,  et  i  adesso 


ROUT  IN  THE  AXARQUIA. 


447 


it  has  greatly  facilitated  commercial  intercourse,  has 
served  to  perpetuate  friendly  relations  between  different 
countries,  by  accustoming  them  to  settle  their  differ- 
ences by  negotiation  rather  than  the  sword. 

The  position  of  the  Italian  states  at  this  period,  whose 
petty  feuds  seemed  to  blind  them  to  the  invasion  which 
menaced  them  from  the  Ottoman  empire,  was  such  as 
to  excite  a  lively  interest  throughout  Christendom,  and 
especially  in  Ferdinand,  as  sovereign  of  Sicily.  He 
succeeded,  by  means  of  his  ambassadors  at  the  papal 
court,  in  opening  a  negotiation  between  the  belliger- 
ents, and  in  finally  adjusting  the  terms  of  a  general 
pacification,  signed  December  12th,  1482.  The  Spanish 
court,  in  consequence  of  its  friendly  mediation  on  this 
occasion,  received  three  several  embassies,  with  suitable 
acknowledgments,  on  the  part  of  Pope  Sixtus  the 
Fourth,  the  college  of  cardinals,  and  the  city  of  Rome ; 
and  certain  marks  of  distinction  were  conferred  by 
his  Holiness  on  the  Castilian  envoys,  not  enjoyed  by 
those  of  any  other  potentate.  This  event  is  worthy  of 
not  ce  as  the  first  instance  of  Ferdinand's  interference 
in  the  politics  of  Italy,  in  which  at  a  later  period  he 
was  destined  to  act  so  prominent  a  part." 


"  Sismondi,  R^publiques  Italiennes,  torn.  xi.  cap.  88. — Pulgar,  Reyes 
Catdlicos,  pp.  195-198. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  ai8. 


Bernardo  Bembo,  dottore."  Archivio  storico  italiano,  torn,  vli.)  But 
Venice  and  Milan  had  long  maintained  the  same  usage  in  their  inter- 
course with  each  other,  as  well  as  with  the  court  of  Rome,  where, 
indeed,  resident  ministers  from  foreign  states  were  the  rule,  not,  as 
elsewhere  down  to  the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  excep- 
tion. (See  Reumont,  Delia  Diplomazia  italiana  dal  Secolo  XIII.  al 
XVI.)— Ed.] 


I 


448 


tVA/l  OF  GRANADA. 


The  affairs  of  Navarre  at  this  time  were  such  as  to 
engage  still  more  deeply  the  attention  of  the  Spanish 
sovereigns.  The  crown  of  that  kingdom  had  devolved, 
on  the  death  of  Leonora,  the  guilty  sister  of  Ferdinand, 
on  her  grandchild,  Francis  Phoebus,  whose  mother, 
Magdeleme  of  France,  held  the  reins  of  government 
during  her  son's  minority."  The  near  relationship  of 
this  princess  to  Louis  the  Eleventh  gave  that  monarch 
an  absolute  influence  in  the  councils  of  Navarre.  He 
made  use  of  this  to  bring  about  a  marriage  between  the 
young  king,  Francis  Phoebus,  and  Joanna  Beltraneja, 
Isabella's  former  competitor  for  the  crown  of  Castile, 
notwithstanding  this  princess  had  long  since  taken  the 
veil  in  the  convent  of  Santa  Clara  at  Coimbra.  It  is 
not  easy  to  unravel  the  tortuous  politics  of  King  Loais. 
The  Spanish  writers  impute  to  him  the  design  of  en- 
abling Joanna  by  this  alliance  to  establish  her  preten- 
sions to  the  Castilian  throne,  or  at  least  to  give  such 
employment  to  its  present  proprietors  as  should  effect- 
ually prevent  them  from  disturbing  him  in  the  posses- 
sion of  Roussillon.  However  this  may  be,  his  intrigues 
with  Portugal  were  disclosed  to  Ferdinand  by  certain 
nobles  of  that  court,  with  whom  he  was  in  secret  cor- 

*>  Aleson,  Anales  de  Navarra,  lib.  34,  cap.  z. — Histoire  du  Roy- 
aume  de  Navarre,  p.  558.  Leonora's  son,  Gaston  de  Foix,  prince  of 
Viana,  was  slain  by  an  accidental  wound  from  a  lance,  at  a  tourney  at 
Lisbon,  in  1469.  By  the  princess  Magdeleine,  his  wife,  sister  of  Louis 
XL,  he  left  two  children,  a  son  and  daughter,  each  of  whom  in  turn 
succeeded  to  the  crown  of  Navarre.  Francis  Phoebus  ascended  the 
throne  on  the  demise  of  his  grandmother  Leonora,  in  1479.  He  was 
distinguished  by  his  personal  graces  and  beauty,  and  especially  by  the 
golden  lustre  of  his  hair,  from  which,  according  to  Aleson,  he  derived 
his  cognomen  of  Phoebus.  As  it  was  an  ancestral  name,  however,  such 
an  etymology  may  be  thought  somewhat  fanciful. 


ROUT  IN  THE  AXARQUIA. 


449 


respondence.  The  Spanish  sovereign§i  in  order  to 
counteract  this  scheme,  offv*red  the  hand  of  their  own 
daughter  Joanna,  afterwards  mother  of  Charles  the  Fifth, 
to  the  king  of  Navarre.  But  all  negotiations  relative 
to  this  matter  were  eventually  defeated  by  the  sudden 
death  of  this  young  prince,  not  without  strong  suspi- 
cions of  poison.  He  was  succeeded  on  the  throne  by 
his  sister  Catharine.  Propositions  were  then  made  by 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  for  the  marriage  of  this  princess, 
then  thirteen  years  of  age,  with  their  infant  son  John, 
heir  apparent  of  their  united  monarchies. '^  Such  an 
alliance,  which  would  bring  under  one  government 
nations  corresponding  in  origin,  language,  general 
habits,  and  local  interests,  presented  great  and  obvious 
advantages.  It  was,  however,  evaded  by  the  queen 
dowager,  who  still  acted  as  regent,  on  the  pretext  of 
disparity  of  age  in  the  parties.  Information  being 
soon  after  received  that  Louis  the  Eleventh  was  taking 
measures  to  make  himself  master  of  the  strong  places 
in  Navarre,  Isabella  transferred  her  residence  to  the 
frontier  town  of  Logroflo,  prepared  to  resist  by  arms, 
if  necessary,  the  occupation  of  that  country  by  her 
insidious  and  powerful  neighbor.  The  death  of  the 
king  of  France,  which  occurred  not  long  after,  fortu- 
nately relieved  the  sovereigns  from  apprehensions  of 
any  immediate  annoyance  in  that  quarter.  *< 


>3  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  had  at  this  time  four  children ;  the  infant 
Don  John,  four  years  and  a  half  old,  but  who  did  not  live  to  come  to 
the  succession,  and  the  infantas  Isabella,  Joanna,  and  Maria ;  the  last, 
bom  at  Cordova  during  the  summer  of  1482. 

u  Aleson,  Anales  de  Navarra,  lib.  34,  cap.  2 ;  lib.  35,  cap.  i. — His- 
toire  du  Royaume  de  Navarre,  pp.  578,  579. — La  Cl&de,  Hist,  de 
Vol.  I.— 29 


M   ■ 


3, 


J, 

n 


450 


IVA/l   OF  GRANADA. 


Amid  their  manifold  concerns,  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella kept  their  thoughts  anxiously  bent  on  their  great 
enterprise,  the  conquest  of  Granada.  At  a  congress 
general  of  the  deputies  of  the  hermandad,  held  at 
Pinto  at  the  commencement  of  the  present  year,  1483, 
with  the  view  of  reforming  certain  abuses  in  that  insti- 
tution, a  liberal  grant  was  made  of  eight  thousand  men, 
and  sixteen  thousand  beasts  of  burden,  for  the  purpose 
of  conveying  supplies  to  the  garrison  in  Alhama.  But 
the  sovereigns  experienced  great  embarrassment  from 
the  want  of  funds.  There  is  probably  no  period  in 
which  the  princes  of  Europe  felt  so  sensibly  their  own 
penury  as  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century  j  when, 
the  demesnes  of  the  crown  having  been  very  generally 
wasted  by  the  lavishness  or  imbecility  of  its  proprie- 
tors, no  substitute  had  as  yet  been  found  in  that  search- 
ing and  well-arranged  system  of  taxation  which  prevails 
at  the  present  day.  The  Spanish  sovereigns,  notwith- 
standing the  economy  which  they  had  introduced  into 
the  finances,  felt  the  pressure  of  these  embarrassments 
peculiarly  at  the  present  juncture.  The  maintenance 
of  the  royal  guard  and  of  the  vast  national  police  of 
the  hermandad,  the  incessant  military  operations  of  the 
late  campaign,  together  with  the  equipment  of  a  navy, 
not  merely  for  war,  but  for  maritime  discovery,  were 
so  many  copious  drains  on  the  exchequer.'*  Under 
these  circumstances,  they  obtained  from  the  pope  a 

Portugal,  torn.  iii.  pp.  438-441. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  p.  199. — 
Mariana,  Hist,  de  EspaKa,  torn.  ii.  p.  551. 

«s  Lebrija,  Rerum  Gestarum  Decades,  ii.  lib.  a,  cap.  i. — Besides  the 
armada  in  the  Mediterranean,  a  fleet  under  Pedro  de  Vera  was  prose- 
cuting a  voyage  of  discovery  and  conquest  to  the  Canaries,  which  will 
be  the  subject  of  more  particular  notice  hereafter. 


ROUT  IN  THE  AXARQUIA. 


451 


grant  of  one  hundred  thousand  ducats,  to  be  raised 
out  of  the  ecclesiastical  revenues  in  Castile  and  Ara- 
gon.  A  bull  of  crusade  was  also  published  by  his 
Holiness,  containing  numerous  indulgences  for  such  as 
should  bear  arms  against  the  infidel,  as  well  as  those 
who  should  prefer  to  commute  their  military  service 
for  the  payment  of  a  sum  of  money.  In  addition  to 
these  r'sources,  the  government  was  enabled  on  its  own 
credit,  justified  by  the  punctuality  with  which  it  had 
redeemed  its  past  engagements,  to  negotiate  consider- 
able loans  with  several  wealthy  individuals." 

With  these  funds  the  sovereigns  entered  into  exten- 
sive arrangements  for  the  ensuing  campaign  ;  causing 
cannon,  after  the  rude  construction  of  that  age,  to 
be  fabricated  at  Huesca,  and  a  large  quantity  of  stone 
balls,  then  principally  used,  to  be  manufactured  in  the 
Sierra  de  Constantina ;  while  the  magazines  were  care- 
fully provided  with  ammunition  and  military  stores. 

An  event  not  unworthy  of  notice  is  recorded  by 
Pulgar  as  happening  about  this  time.  A  common 
soldier,  named  John  de  Corral,  contrived,  under  false 
pretences,  to  obtain  from  the  king  of  Granada  a  num- 
ber of  Christian  captives,  together  with  a  large  sum  of 
money,  with  which  he  escaped  into  Andalusia.  The 
man  was  apprehended  by  the  warden  of  the  frontier 
of  Jaen ;  and,  the  transaction  being  reported  to  the 
sovereigns,  they  compelled  an  entire  restitution  of 
the  money,  and  consented  to  such  a  ransom  for  the 

i«  Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  p.  199. — Mariana,  torn.  ii.  p.  551. — Co- 
leccion  de  Cedulas  y  otros  Documentos  (Madrid,  1829),  torn.  iii.  no. 
25. — For  this  important  collection,  of  which  only  a  few  copies  were 
printed  for  distribution,  at  the  expense  of  the  Spanish  government,  I 
am  indebted  to  the  politeness  of  Don  A.  Calderon  de  la  Barca. 


1. 
I 

I 


\  f 


li 


452 


PTA^   OF  GRANADA. 


liberated  Christians  as  the  king  of  Granada  should  de- 
mand. This  act  of  justice,  it  should  be  remembered, 
occurred  in  an  age  when  the  church  itself  stood  ready 
to  sanction  any  breach  of  faith,  however  glaring, 
towards  heretics  and  infidels. '^ 

While  the  court  was  detained  in  the  north,  tidings 
were  received  of  a  reverse  sustained  by  the  Spanish 
arms,  which  plunged  the  nation  in  sorrow  far  deeper 
than  that  occasioned  by  the  rout  at  Loja.  Don  Alonso 
de  Cardenas,  grand  master  of  St.  James,  an  old  and 
confidential  servant  of  the  crown,  had  been  intrusted 
with  the  defence  of  the  frontier  of  Ecija.  While  on 
this  station,  he  was  strongly  urged  to  make  a  descent 
on  the  environs  of  Malaga,  by  his  adalides  or  scouts, 
men  who,  being  for  the  most  part  Moorish  deserters 
or  renegadoes,  were  employed  by  the  border  chiefs 
to  reconnoitre  the  enemy's  country  or  to  guide  them 
in  their  marauding  expeditions.'"    The  district  around 

»7  Bemaldez,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  58. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat6- 
licos,  p.  202. — ^Juan  de  Corral  imposed  on  the  king  of  Granada  by 
means  of  certain  credentials,  which  he  had  obtained  from  the  Spanish 
sovereigns  without  any  privity  on  their  part  to  his  fraudulent  inten- 
tions. The  story  is  told  in  a  very  blind  manner  by  Pulgar.  It  may 
not  be  amiss  to  mention  here  a  doughty  feat  performed  by  another 
Castilian  envoy,  of  much  higher  rank,  Don  Juan  de  Vera.  This  knight, 
while  conversing  with  certain  Moorish  cavaliers  in  the  Alhambra,  was 
so  much  scandalized  by  the  freedom  with  which  one  of  them  treated 
the  immaculate  conception,  that  he  gave  the  circumcised  dog  the  lie, 
and  smote  him  a  sharp  blow  on  the  head  with  his  sword.  Ferdinand, 
says  Bernaldez,  who  tells  the  story,  wa^  much  gratified  with  the 
exploit,  and  recompensed  the  good  knight  with  many  honors. 

18  The  adalid  was  a  guide,  or  scout,  whose  business  it  was  to  make 
himself  acquainted  with  the  enemy's  country,  and  to  guide  the  in- 
vaders into  it.  Much  dispute  has  arisen  respecting  the  authority  and 
functions  of  this  officer.    Some  writers  regard  him  as  an  independent 


ROUT  IN  THE  AXARQUIA. 


453 


Malaga  was  famous  under  the  Saracens  for  its  silk  man- 
ufactures, of  which  it  annually  made  large  exports  to 
other  parts  of  Europe.  It  was  to  be  approached  by 
traversing  a  savage  sierra,  or  chain  of  mountains,  called 
the  Axarquia,  whose  margin  occasionally  afforded  good 
pasturage,  and  was  sprinkled  over  with  Moorish  vil- 
lages. After  threading  its  defiles,  it  was  proposed  to 
return  by  an  open  road  that  turned  the  southern  ex- 
tremity of  the  sierra  along  the  sea-shore.  There  was 
little  to  be  apprehended,  it  was  stated,  from  pursuit,  since 
Malaga  was  almost  wholly  unprovided  with  cavalry.  *» 

The  grand  master,  falling  in  with  the  proposition, 
communicated  it  to  the  principal  chiefs  on  the  borders ; 
among  others,  to  Don  Pedro  Henriquez,  adelantado  of 
Andalusia,  Don  Juan  de  Silvn,  count  of  Cifuentes,  Don 
Alonso  de  Aguilar,  and  the  marquis  of  Cadiz.  These 
noblemen,  collecting  their  retainers,  repaired  to  Ante- 
quera,  where  the  ranks  were  quickly  swelled  by  recruits 
from  Cordova,  Seville,  Xerez,  and  other  cities  of  An- 


leader,  or  commander ;  and  the  Dictionary  of  the  Academy  defines 
the  term  tidalid  by  these  very  words.  The  Siete  Partidas,  however, 
explains  at  length  the  peculiar  duties  of  this  officer,  conformably  to  the 
account  I  have  given.  (Eld.  de  la  Real  Acad.  (Madrid,  1807),  part,  a, 
tit.  2,  leyes  1-4.)  Bemaldez,  Pulgar,  and  the  other  chroniclers  of  the 
Granadine  war  repeatedly  notice  him  in  this  connection.  When  he  is 
spoken  of  as  a  captain,  or  leader,  as  he  sometimes  is  in  these  and  other 
ancient  records,  his  authority,  I  suspect,  is  intended  to  be  limited  to 
tb.'  persons  who  aided  him  in  the  execution  of  his  peculiar  office.  It 
was  common  for  the  great  chiefs  who  lived  on  the  borders  to  main- 
tain in  their  pay  a  number  of  these  adalides,  to  inform  them  of  the 
fitting  time  and  place  for  making  a  foray.  The  post,  as  may  well  be 
believed,  was  one  of  great  trust  and  personal  hazard. 

19  Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  p.  203. — L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables, 
fol.  173. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  320. 


w 


\ 


M 


454 


IVA^   OF  GRANADA. 


dalusia,  whose  chivalry  always  readily  answered  the 
summons  to  an  expedition  over  the  border.*^ 

In  the  mean  while,  however,  the  marquis  of  Cadiz 
had  received  such  intelligence  from  his  own  adalides  as 
led  him  to  doubt  the  expediency  of  a  march  through 
intricate  defiles,  inhabited  by  a  poor  and  hardy  peas- 
antry ;  and  he  strongly  advised  to  direct  the  expedi- 
tion against  the  neighboring  town  of  Almojia.  But  in 
this  he  was  overruled  by  the  grand  master  and  the  other 
partners  of  his  enterprise  j  many  of  whom,  with  the 
rash  confidence  of  youth,  were  excited  rather  than 
intimidated  by  the  prospect  of  danger. 

On  Wednesday,  the  19th  of  March,  this  gallant  little 
army  marched  forth  from  the  gates  of  Antequera.  The 
van  was  intrusted  to  the  adelantado  Henriquez  and 
Don  Alonso  de  Aguilar.  The  centre  divisions  were  led 
by  the  marquis  of  Cadiz  and  the  count  of  Cifuentes, 
and  the  rear-guard  by  the  grand  master  of  St.  James. 
The  number  of  foot,  which  is  uncertain,  appears  to 
have  been  considerably  less  than  that  of  the  horse, 
which  amounted  to  about  three  thousand,  containing 
the  flower  of  Andalusian  knighthood,  together  with  the 

»  Oviedo,  Quincuagenas,  MS.,  bat.  i,  quinc.  i,  dial.  36. — Lebrija, 
Rerum  Gestarum  Decades,  ii.  lib.  2,  cap.  2. — ^The  tide  of  adelantado 
implies  in  its  etymology  one  preferred  or  placed  before  others.  The 
office  is  of  great  antiquity ;  some  have  derived  it  from  the  reign  of 
St.  Ferdinand  in  the  thirteenth  century,  but  Mendoza  proves  its  exist- 
ence at  a  far  earlier  period.  The  adelantado  was  possessed  of  very 
extensive  judicial  authority  in  the  province  or  district  in  which  he  pre- 
sided, and  in  war  was  invested  with  supreme  military  command.  His 
functions,  however,  as  well  as  the  territories  over  which  he  ruled,  have 
varied  at  different  periods.  An  adelantado  seems  to  have  been  gen- 
erally established  over  a  border  province,  as  Andalusia  for  example. 
Marina  discusses  the  civil  authority  of  this  officer,  in  his  Teoria,  torn, 
ii.  cap.  23.     See  also  Salazar  de  Mendoza,  Dignidades,  lib.  2,  cap.  15. 


ROUT  IN  THE  AXARQUIA. 


455 


array  of  St.  James,  the  most  opulent  and  powerful  of 
the  Spanish  military  orders.  Never,  says  an  Aragonese 
historian,  had  there  been  seen  in  these  times  a  more 
splendid  body  of  chivalry ;  and  such  was  their  confi- 
dence, he  adds,  that  they  deemed  themselves  invinci- 
ble by  any  force  which  the  Moslems  could  bring  against 
them.  The  leaders  took  care  not  to  encumber  the 
movements  of  the  army  with  artillery,  camp-equipage, 
or  even  much  forage  and  provisions,  for  which  they 
trusted  to  the  invaded  territory.  A  number  of  persons, 
however,  followed  in  the  train,  who,  influenced  by 
desire  rather  of  gain  than  of  glory,  had  come  provided 
with  money,  as  well  as  commissions  from  their  friends, 
for  the  purchase  of  rich  spoil,  whether  of  slaves,  stuffs, 
or  jewels,  which  they  expected  would  be  won  by  the 
good  swords  of  their  comrades,  as  in  Alhama." 

After  travelling  with  little  intermission  through 
the  night,  the  army  entered  the  winding  defiles  of  the 
Axarquia ;  where  their  progress  was  necessarily  so  much 
impeded  by  the  character  of  the  ground  that  most  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  villages  through  which  they 
passed  had  opportunity  to  escape  with  the  greater  part 
of  their  effects  to  the  inaccessible  fastnesses  of  the 
mountains.  The  Spaniards,  after  plundering  the  de- 
serted hamlets  of  whatever  remained,  as  well  as  of  the 
few  stragglers,  whether  men  or  cattle,  found  still  linge- 
ing  about  them,  set  them  on  fire.  In  this  way  they 
advanced,  marking  their  line  of  march  with  the  usual 
devastation  that  accompanied  these  ferocious  forays, 

"  Beraaldez,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  60. — Rades  y  Andrada, 
Las  tres  Ordenes.  fol.  71. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  320. — Zuiiiga, 
Annales  de  Sevilla,  fol.  395. — Lebrija,  Rerum  Gestarum  Decades,  iL 
lib.  a,  cap.  2.— Oviedo,  Quincuagenas,  MS.,  bat.  i,  quinc.  i,  dial.  36. 


t 


456 


JVAX   OF  GHANADA. 


until  the  columns  of  smoke  and  fire  which  rose  above 
the  hill-tops  announced  to  the  people  of  Malaga  the 
near  approach  of  an  enemy. 

The  old  king  Muley  Abul  Hacen,  who  lay  at  this 
time  in  the  city,  with  a  numerous  and  well-appointed 
body  of  horse,  contrary  to  the  reports  of  the  adalides, 
would  have  rushed  forth  at  once  at  their  head,  had  he 
not  been  dissuaded  from  it  by  his  younger  brother 
Abdallah,  who  is  better  known  in  history  by  the  name 
of  El  Zagal,  or  "the  Valiant;"  an  Arabic  epithet, 
given  him  by  his  countrymen  to  distinguish  him  from 
his  nephew,  the  ruling  king  of  Granada.  To  this 
prince  Abul  Hacen  intrusted  the  command  of  the  corps 
of  picked  cavalry,  with  instructions  to  penetrate  at 
once  into  the  lower  level  of  the  sierra  and  encounter 
the  Christians  entangled  in  its  passes ;  while  another 
division,  consisting  chiefly  of  arquebusiers  and  archers, 
should  turn  the  enemy's  flank  by  gaining  the  heights 
under  which  he  was  defiling.  This  last  corps  was 
placed  under  the  direction  of  Reduan  Senegas,  a  chief 
of  Christian  lineage,  according  to  Bernaldez,  and  who 
may  perhaps  be  identified  with  the  Reduan  that,  in  the 
later  Moorish  ballads,  seems  to  be  shadowed  forth  as 
the  personification  of  love  and  heroism.** 

The  Castilian  army  in  the  mean  time  vent  forward 
with  a  buoyant  and  reckless  confidence,  and  with  very 
little  subordination.  The  divisions  occupying  the  ad- 
vance and  centre,  disappointed  in  their  expectations 
of  booty,  had  quitted  the  line  of  march,  and  dispersed 
in  small  parties  in  search  of  plunder  over  the  adjti-^ent 

M  Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  ArabeS,  torn.  iii.  p.  217. — Cardonne, 
Hist,  de  I'Afrique  et  de  I'Espagne,  torn.  iii.  pp.  264-267. — Bernalde^ 
Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  60. 


ROUT  IN   THE  AXARQUIA. 


457 


country ;  and  some  of  the  high-mettled  young  cavaliers 
had  the  audacity  to  ride  up  in  defiance  to  the  very  walls 
of  Malaga.    The  grand  master  of  St.  James  was  the  only 
leader  who  kept  his  columns  unbroken  and  marched 
forward  in  order  of  battle.     Things  were  in  this  state, 
when  the  Moorish  cavalry  under  El  Zagal,  suddenly 
emerging  from  one  of  the  mountain-passes,  appeared 
before  the  astonished  rear-guard  of  the  Christians.   The 
Moors  spurred  on  to  the  assault,  but  the  well-disciplined 
chivalry  of  St.   James  remained  unshaken.      In  the 
fierce  struggle  which  ensued,  the  Andalusians  became 
embarrassed  by  the  narrowness  of  the  ground  on  which 
they  were  engaged,  which  afforded  no  scope  for  the 
manoeuvres  of  cavalry;    while  the  Moors,  trained  to 
the  wild  tactics  of  mountain  warfare,  went  through 
their  usual  evolutions,  retreating  and  returning  to  the 
charge  with  a  celerity  that  sorely  distressed  their  oppo- 
nents, and  at  length  threw  them  into  some  disorder. 
The  grand  master  in  consequence  despatched  a  message 
to  the  marquis  of  Cadiz,  requesting  his  support.     The 
latter,  putting  himself  at  the  head  of  such  of  his  scat- 
tered forces  as  he  could  hastily  muster,  readily  obeyed 
the  summons.     Discerning  on  his  approach  the  real 
source  of  the  grand  master's  embarrassment,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  changing  the  field  of  action  by  drawing  off 
the   Moors  to  an   open    reach  of  the  valley,  which 
allowed  free  play  to  the  movements  of  the  Andalusian 
horse,  when  the  combined  squadrons  pres    1  so  hard 
on  the  Moslems  that  they  were  soon  compelled  to  take 
refuge  within  the  depths  of  their  own  mountains.'' 

*3  Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  torn.  iii.  p.  217. — Pulgw, 
Reyes  Catdlicos,  p.  204. — Rades  y  Andrada,  Las  tres  Ordenes,  fol. 
71.  72- 


8^^ 


458 


WAX   OF  GRANADA. 


In  the  mean  while,  the  scattered  troops  of  the  ad- 
vance, alarmed  by  the  report  of  the  action,  gradually 
assembled  under  their  respective  banners,  and  fell  back 
upon  the  rear.  A  council  of  war  was  then  called.  All 
further  progress  seemed  to  be  effectually  intercepted. 
The  country  was  everywhere  in  arms.  The  most  that 
could  now  be  hoped  was  that  they  might  be  suffered  to 
retire  unmolested  with  such  plunder  as  they  had  already 
acquired.  Two  routes  lay  open  for  this  purpose, — the 
one  winding  along  the  sea-shore,  wide  and  level,  but 
circuitous,  and  swept  through  the  whole  range  of  its 
narrow  entrance  by  the  fortress  of  Malaga.  This  de- 
termined them,  unhappily,  to  prefer  the  other  route, 
being  that  by  which  they  had  penetrated  the  Axarquia, 
or  rather  a  shorter  cut,  by  which  the  adalides  under- 
took to  conduct  them  through  its  mazes."* 

The  little  army  commenced  its  retrograde  movement 
with  undiminished  spirit.  But  it  was  now  embarrassed 
with  the  transportation  of  its  plunder,  and  by  the  in- 
creasing difficulties  of  the  sierra,  which,  as  they  ascended 
its  sides,  was  matted  over  with  impenetrable  thickets, 
and  broken  up  by  formidable  ravines  or  channels,  cut 
deep  into  the  soil  by  the  mountain  torrents.  The  Moors 
were  now  seen  mustering  in  considerable  numbers  along 
the  heights,  and,  as  they  were  expert  marksmen,  being 
trained  by  early  and  assiduous  practice,  the  shots  from 
their  arquebuses  and  cross-bows  frequently  found  some 
assailable  point  in  the  harness  of  the  Spanish  men-at- 
arms.  At  length,  the  army,  through  the  treachery  or 
ignorance  of  the  guides,  was  suddenly  brought  to  a  halt 

»♦  Mariana,  Hist,  de  Espana,  torn.  ii.  pp.  552,  553.—  Pulgar,  Reyes 
Cat61icos,  p.  205. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  fol.  321. 


ROUT  IN  THE  AXARQUIA. 


459 


by  arriving  in  a  deep  glen  or  inclosure,  whose  rocky 
sides  rose  with  such  boldness  as  to  be  scarcely  practi- 
cable for  infantry,  much  less  for  horse.  To  add  to 
their  distresses,  daylight,  without  which  they  could 
scarcely  hope  to  extricate  themselves,  was  fast  fading 
away.'s 

In  this  extremity  no  other  alternative  seemed  to  re- 
main than  to  attempt  to  regain  the  route  from  which 
they  had  departed.  As  all  other  considerations  were 
now  subordinate  to  those  of  personal  safety,  it  was 
agreed  to  abandon  the  spoil  acquired  at  so  much  hazard, 
which  greatly  retarded  their  movements.  As  they  pain- 
fully retraced  their  steps,  the  darkness  of  the  night  was 
partially  dispelled  by  numerous  fires,  which  blazed  along 
the  hill-tops,  and  which  showed  the  figures  of  their 
enemies  flitting  to  and  fro  like  so  many  spectres.  It 
seemed,  says  Bernaldez,  as  if  ten  thousand  torches  were 
glancing  along  the  mountains.  At  length,  the  whole 
body,  faint  with  fatigue  and  hunger,  reached  the  borders 
of  a  little  stream,  which  flowed  through  a  valley  whose 
avenues,  as  well  as  the  rugged  heights  by  which  it  was 
commanded,  were  already  occupied  by  the  enemy,  who 
poured  down  mingled  volleys  of  shot,  stones,  and  arrows 
on  the  heads  of  the  Christians.  The  compact  mass  pre- 
sented by  the  latter  afforded  a  sure  mark  to  the  artillery 
of  the  Moors ;  while  they,  from  their  scattered  position, 
as  well  as  from  the  defences  afforded  by  the  nature  of 
the  ground,  were  exposed  to  little  annoyance  in  return. 
In  addition  to  lighter  missiles,  the  Moors  occasionally 
dislodged  large  fragments  of  rock,  which,  rolling  with 

«  Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  p.  205. — Garibay,  Compendio,  torn.  ii.  p. 
636. 


h. 


46o 


H^A/i   OF  GRANADA. 


tremendous  violence  down  the  declivities  of  the  hills, 
spread  frightful  desolation  through  the  Christian  ranks."* 

The  dismay  occasioned  by  these  scenes,  occurring 
amidst  the  darkness  of  night,  and  heightened  by  the 
shrill  war-cries  of  the  Moors,  which  rose  around  them 
on  every  quarter,  seems  to  have  completely  bewildered 
the  Spaniards,  even  their  leaders.  It  was  the  misfor- 
tune of  the  expedition  that  there  was  but  little  concert 
between  the  several  commanders,  or,  at  least,  that  there 
was  no  one  so  pre-eminent  above  the  rest  as  to  assume 
authority  at  this  awful  moment.  So  far,  it  would  seem, 
from  attempting  escape,  they  continued  in  their  perilous 
position,  uncertain  what  course  to  take,  until  midnight ; 
when  at  length,  after  having  seen  their  best  and  bravest 
followers  fall  thick  around  them,  they  determined  at  all 
hazards  to  force  a  passage  across  the  sierra  in  the  face 
of  the  enemy.  **  Better  lose  our  lives,"  said  the  grand 
master  of  St.  James,  addressing  his  men,  **  in  cutting 
a  way  through  the  foe,  than  be  butchered  without  re- 
sistance, like  cattle  in  the  shambles."'^ 

The  marquis  of  Cadiz,  guided  by  a  trusty  adalid,  and 
accompanied  by  sixty  or  seventy  lances,  was  fortunate 
enough  to  gain  a  circuitous  route  less  vigilantly  guarded 
by  the  enemy,  whose  attention  was  drawn  to  the  move- 
ments of  the  main  body  of  the  Castilian  army.  By 
means  of  this  path,  the  marquis  with  his  little  band 
succeeded,  after  a  painful  march,  in  which  his  good 
steed  sunk  under  him  oppressed   with  wounds  and 

=*  Bernaldez,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  60. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61i- 
cos,  ubi  supra. — Cardonne,  Hist,  de  I'Afrique  et  de  I'Espagne,  torn.  iii. 
pp.  264-267. 

»7  Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  p.  206. — Rades  y  Andrada,  Las  tres  Or- 
denes,  fol.  71,  72. 


ROUT  IN  THE  AXARQUIA. 


461 


By 
band 
good 
is  and 


tres  Or- 


fatigue,  in  reaching  a  valley  at  some  distance  from  the 
scene  of  action,  where  he  determined  to  await  the 
coming  up  of  his  friends,  who  he  confidently  expected 
would  follow  on  his  track.* 

But  the  grand  master  and  his  associates,  missing  this 
track  in  the  darkness  of  the  night,  or  perhaps  preferring 
another,  breasted  the  sierra  in  a  part  where  it  proved 
extremely  difficult  of  ascent.  At  every  step  the  loosened 
earth  gave  way  under  the  pressure  of  the  foot ;  and,  the 
infantry  endeavoring  to  support  themselves  by  clinging 
to  the  tails  and  manes  of  the  horses,  the  jaded  animals, 
borne  down  with  the  weight,  rolled  headlong  with  their 
riders  on  the  ranks  below,  or  were  precipitated  down 
the  sides  of  the  numerous  ravines.  The  Moors,  all  the 
while,  avoiding  a  close  encounter,  contented  themselves 
with  discharging  on  the  heads  of  their  opponents  an 
unintermitted  shower  of  missiles  of  every  description.** 

It  was  not  until  the  following  morning  that  the  Cas- 
tilians,  having  surmounted  the  crest  of  the  eminence, 
began  the  descent  into  the  opposite  valley,  which  they 
had  the  mortification  to  observe  was  commanded  on 
every  point  by  their  vigilant  adversary,  who  seemed 
now  in  their  eyes  to  possess  the  powers  of  ubiquity.  As 
the  light  broke  upon  the  troops,  it  revealed  the  whole 
extent  of  their  melancholy  condition.  How  different 
from  the  magnificent  array  which,  but  two  days  pre- 
vious, had  marched  forth  with  such  high  and  confident 

"8  Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  loc.  cit. — Bemaldez,  Reyes  Cat61icos, 
MS.,  cap.  60. 

^  Piilgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  p.  206. — Mr.  Irving,  in  his  "Conquest 
of  Granada,"  states  that  the  scene  of  the  greatest  slaughter  in  this  rout 
is  still  known  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  Axarquia  by  the  name  of  La 
Cuesta  de  la  Matanza,  or  "The  Hill  of  the  Massacre." 


46  a 


fVA/i   OF  GRANADA. 


hopes  from  the  gates  of  Antequera !  their  ranks  thinned, 
their  bright  arms  defaced  and  broken,  their  banners 
rent  in  pieces,  or  lost, — as  had  been  that  of  St.  James, 
together  with  its  gallant  alferez,  Diego  Becerra,  in  the 
terrible  passage  of  the  preceding  night, — their  counte- 
nances aghast  with  terror,  fatigue,  and  famine  !  Despair 
was  now  in  every  eye  ;  all  subordination  was  at  an  end. 
No  one,  says  Pulgar,  heeded  any  longer  the  call  of  the 
trumpet  or  the  wave  of  the  banner.  Each  sought  only 
his  own  safety,  without  regard  to  his  comrade.  Some 
threw  away  their  arms,  hoping  by  this  means  to  facili- 
tate their  escape,  while  in  fact  it  only  left  them  more 
defenceless  against  the  shafts  of  their  enemies.  Some, 
oppressed  with  fatigue  and  terror,  fell  down  and  died 
without  so  much  as  receiving  a  wound.  The  panic 
was  such  that,  in  more  than  one  instance,  two  or  three 
Moorish  soldiers  were  known  to  capture  thrice  their 
own  number  of  Spaniards.  Some,  losing  their  way, 
strayed  back  to  Malaga  and  were  made  prisoners  by 
females  of  the  city,  who  overtook  them  in  the  fields. 
Others  escaped  to  Alhama  or  other  distant  places,  after 
wandering  seven  or  eight  days  among  the  mountains, 
sustaining  life  on  such  wild  herbs  and  berries  as  they 
could  find,  and  lying  close  during  the  day.  A  greater 
number  succeeded  in  reaching  Antequera,  and,  among 
these,  most  of  the  leaders  of  the  expedition.  The  grand 
master  of  St.  James,  the  adelantado  Henriquez,  and 
Don  Alonso  de  Aguilar  effected  their  escape  by  scaling 
so  perilous  a  part  of  the  sierra  that  their  pursuers  cared 
not  to  follow.  The  count  de  Cifuentes  was  less  for- 
tunate.*'   That  nobleman's  division  was  said  to  have 

3°  Oviedo,  who  devotes  one  of  his  dialogues  to  this  nobleman,  says 


ROUT  IN   THE  AXAKQUIA. 


463 


s'lfftred  more  severely  than  any  other.  On  the  morn- 
ing after  the  bloody  passage  of  the  mountain,  he  found 
himself  suddenly  cut  off  from  his  followers,  and  sur- 
rounded by  six  Moorish  cavaliers,  against  whom  he  was 
defending  himself  with  desperate  courage,  when  their 
leader,  Reduan  Benegas,  struck  with  the  inequality  of 
the  combat,  broke  in,  exclaiming,  "  Hold  1  this  is 
unworthy  of  good  knights."  The  assailants  fell  back, 
abashed  by  the  rebuke,  and  left  the  count  to  their  com- 
mander. A  close  encounter  then  took  place  between 
the  two  chiefs ;  but  the  strength  of  the  Spaniard  was  no 
longer  equal  to  his  spirit,  and,  after  a  brief  resistance, 
he  was  forced  to  surrender  to  his  generous  enemy. 3' 

The  marquis  of  Cadiz  had  better  fortune.  After  wait- 
ing till  dawn  for  the  coming  up  of  his  friends,  he  con- 
cluded that  they  had  extricated  themselves  by  a  different 
route.  He  resolved  to  provide  for  his  own  safety  and  that 
of  his  followers,  and,  being  supplied  with  a  fresh  horse, 
accomplished  his  escape,  after  traversing  the  wildest 
passages  of  the  Axarquia  for  the  distance  of  four  leagues, 
and  got  into  Antequera  with  but  little  interruption 
from  the  enemy.  But,  although  he  secured  his  personal 
safety,  the  misfortunes  of  the  day  fell  heavily  on  his 

of  him,  "  Fue  una  de  las  buenas  lanzas  de  nuestra  Espafia  en  su 
tiempo ;  y  muy  sabio  y  prudente  caballero,  Hallose  en  grandes  car- 
gos  y  negocios  de  paz  y  de  guerra."  Quincuagenas,  MS.,  bat.  i, 
quinc.  I,  dial.  36. 

3t  Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  torn.  iii.  p.  218. — Zurita,  Anales, 
torn.  iv.  fol.  321. — Carbajal,  Anales,  MS.,  aflo  1483. — Pulgar,  Reyes 
Cat61icos,  ubi  supra. — Beraaldez,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  60.^ 
Cardonne,  Hist,  de  I'Afrique  e;  de  I'Espagne,  torn.  iii.  pp.  266,  267. — 
The  count,  according  to  Oviedo,  rennained  a  long  while  a  prisoner  in 
Granada,  until  he  was  ransomed  by  the  payment  of  several  thousand 
doblas  of  gold.     Quincuagenas,  MS.,  bat.  i,  quinc.  i,  dial.  36. 


464 


f^^A/^    OF  GKAXADA. 


house ;  for  two  of  his  brothers  were  cut  down  by  his 
side,  and  a  third  brother,  with  a  nephew,  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy. ^ 

The  number  of  the  slain  in  the  two  days*  action  is 
admitted  by  the  Spanish  writers  to  have  exceeded  eight 
hundred,  with  double  that  number  of  prisoners.  The 
Moorish  force  is  said  to  have  been  small,  and  its  loss 
comparatively  trifling.  The  numerical  estimates  of  the 
Spanish  historians,  as  usual,  appear  extremely  loose ; 
and  the  narrative  of  their  enemies  is  too  meagre  in  this 
portion  of  their  annals  to  allow  any  opportunity  of  veri- 
fication. There  is  no  reason,  however,  to  believe  them 
in  any  degree  exaggerated. 

The  best  blood  of  Andalusia  was  shed  on  this  occa- 
sion. Among  the  slain,  Bernaldez  reckons  two  hundred 
and  fifty,  and  Pulgar  four  hundred,  persons  of  quality, 
with  thirty  commanders  of  the  military  fraternity  of  St. 
James.  There  was  scarcely  a  family  in  the  south  but 
had  to  mourn  the  loss  of  some  one  of  its  members  by 
death  or  captivity ;  and  the  distress  was  not  a  little 
aggravated  by  the  uncertainty  which  hung  over  the  fate 
of  the  absent,  as  to  whether  they  had  fallen  in  the  field, 
or  were  still  wandering  in  the  wilderness,  or  were 
pining  away  existence  in  the  dungeons  of  Malaga  and 
Granada.  33 

Some  imputed  the  failure  of  the  expedition  to  treachery 

3»  Bernaldez,  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS.,  cap.  60. — Marmol  says  that 
three  brothers  and  two  nephews  of  the  marquis,  whose  names  he  gives, 
were  all  slain.     Rebelion  de  los  Moriscos,  lib.  i,  cap.  12. 

33  Zuiiiga,  Annales  de  Sevilla.  fol.  395. — Bernaldez,  Reyes  Catoli- 
cos, MS.,  ubi  supra. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  p.  206. — Oviedo,  Quin- 
cuagenas,  MS.,  bat.  i,  quinc.  i,  dial.  36. — Marmol,  Rebelion  de  los 
Moriscos,  lib.  i,  cap.  12. 


ROUT  IN  THE  AXARQUIA. 


465 


in  the  adalides,  some  to  want  of  concert  among  the  com- 
manders. The  worthy  Curate  of  Los  Palacios  concludes 
his  narrative  of  the  disaster  in  the  following  manner : 
**  The  number  of  the  Moors  was  small  who  inflicted  this 
grievous  defeat  on  the  Christians.  It  was,  indeed, 
clearly  miraculous,  and  we  may  discern  in  it  the  special 
interposition  of  Providence,  justly  offended  with  the 
greater  part  of  those  that  engaged  in  the  expedition ; 
who,  instead  of  confessing,  partaking  of  the  sacrament, 
and  making  their  testaments,  as  becomes  good  Chris- 
tians, and  men  that  are  to  bear  arms  in  defence  of  the 
Holy  Catholic  Faith,  acknowledged  that  they  did  not 
bring  with  them  suitable  dispositions,  but,  with  little 
regard  to  God's  service,  were  influenced  by  covetous- 
ness  and  love  of  ungodly  gain.  "3* 


34  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  60. — Pulgar  has  devoted  a  large  space 
to  the  unfortunate  expedition  to  the  Axarquia.  His  intimacy  with  the 
principal  persons  of  the  court  enabled  him,  no  doubt,  to  verify  most 
of  the  particulars  which  he  records.  The  Curate  of  Los  Palacios,  from 
the  proximity  of  his  residence  to  the  theatre  of  action,  may  be  supp>osed 
also  to  have  had  ample  means  for  obtaining  the  requisite  information. 
Yet  their  several  accounts,  although  not  strictly  contradictory,  it  is  not 
always  easy  to  reconcile  with  one  another.  The  narratives  of  complex 
military  operations  are  not  likely  to  be  simplified  under  the  hands  of 
monkish  bookmen.  I  have  endeavored  to  make  out  a  connected  tissue 
from  a  comparison  of  the  Moslem  with  the  Castilian  authorities.  But 
here  the  meagreness  of  the  Moslem  annals  compels  us  to  lament  the 
premature  death  of  Conde.  It  can  hardly  be  expected,  indeed,  that 
the  Moors  should  have  dwelt  with  much  amplification  on  this  humili- 
ating period.  But  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  far  more  copious  me- 
morials of  theirs  than  any  now  published  exist  in  the  Spanish  libraries; 
and  it  were  much  to  be  wished  that  some  Oriental  scholar  would  supply 
Conde's  deficiency,  by  exploring  these  authentic  records  of  what  may 
be  deemed,  so  far  as  Christian  Spain  is  concerned,  the  most  glorious 
portion  of  her  history. 

Vol.  I.— 30  u* 


CHAPTER    XI. 

WAR  OF   GRANADA. GENERAL   VIEW   OF   THE    POLICY 

PURSUED    IN   THE   CONDUCT   OF   THIS   WAR. 


I483-I487. 

Defeat  and  Capture  of  Abdallah. — Policy  of  the  Sovereigns, — Large 
Trains  of  Artillery. — Description  of  the  Pieces. — Stupendous  Roads. 
— Isabella's  Care  of  the  Troops. — Her  Perseverance. — Discipline  of 
the  Army. — Swiss  Mercenaries. — English  Lord  Scales. — Magnifi- 
cence of  the  Nobles. — Isabella  visits  the  Camp. — Ceremonies  on  the 
Occupation  of  a  City. 

The  young  monarch,  Abu  Abdallah,  was  probably 
the  only  person  in  Granada  who  did  not  receive  with 
unmingled  satisfaction  the  tidings  of  the  rout  in  the 
Axarquia.  He  beheld  with  secret  uneasiness  the  laurels 
thus  acquired  by  the  old  king  his  father,  or  rather  by 
his  ambitious  uncle  El  Zagal,  whose  name  now  re- 
sounded from  every  quarter  as  the  successful  champion 
of  the  Moslems.  He  saw  the  necessity  of  some  dazzling 
enterprise,  if  he  would  maintain  an  ascendency  even 
over  the  faction  which  had  seated  him  on  the  throne. 
He  accordingly  projected  an  excursion  which,  instead 
of  terminating  in  a  mere  border  foray,  should  lead  to 
the  achievement  of  some  permanent  conquest. 

He  found  no  difficulty,  while  the  spirits  of  his  people 
were  roused,  in  raising  a  force  of  nine  thousand  foot, 
and  seven  hundred  horse,  the  flower  of  Granada's 
(  466  ) 


MILITARY  POLICY  OF   THE  SOVEREIGNS. 


467 


chivalry.  He  strengthened  his  army  still  further  by 
the  presence  of  Ali  Atar,  the  defender  of  Loja,  the 
veteran  of  a  hundred  battles,  whose  military  prowess 
had  raised  him  from  the  common  file  up  to  the  highest 
post  in  the  army,  and  whose  plebeian  blood  had  been 
permitted  to  mingle  with  that  of  royalty,  by  the 
marriage  of  his  daughter  with  the  young  king  Ab- 
dallah. 

With  this  gallant  array,  the  Moorish  monarch  sallied 
forth  from  Granada.  As  he  led  the  way  through  the 
avenue  which  still  bears  the  name  of  the  gate  of  Elvira,* 
the  point  of  h>s  lance  came  in  contact  with  the  arch, 
and  was  broken.  This  sinister  omen  was  followed  by 
another  more  alarming.   A  fox,  which  crossed  the  path 

I  "  For  esa  vwerte  de  Elvira 
sale  miiy  gran  cabalgada  ; 
cudnto  del  hidalgo  tnoro, 
ciiinto  de  la  yegua  baya. 


"Cuinta  pltinia  y  gentileza, 
cudnto  capellar  de  grana, 
ciidiito  bayo  borceguf, 
cudnto  raso  que  se  esmalta, 

"  Cudnto  de  espuela  de  oro, 
cudnta  estribera  de  plata  1 
Toda  es  gente  valerosa, 
y  esperta  para  batalla. 

"  En  medio  de  todos  ellos 
va  el  rey  Cliico  de  Granada, 
niirando  las  damas  moras 
de  las  torres  del  Alhambra. 

"La  reina  mora  su  madre 
de  esta  manera  le  hab7a : 
*  Aid  te  guarde,  mi  hijo, 
Mahoma  vaya  en  tu  guarda.' " 


Hita,  Guerras  de  Granada,  tom.  i.  p.  233, 


468 


IVAH   OF  GRANADA. 


of  the  army,  was  seen  to  run  through  the  ranks,  and, 
notwithstanding  the  showers  of  missiles  discharged  at 
him,  to  make  his  escape  unhurt.  Abdallah's  counsellors 
would  have  persuaded  him  to  abandon,  or  at  least  post- 
pone, an  enterprise  of  such  ill  augury.  But  the  king, 
less  superstitious,  or  from  the  obstinacy  with  which 
feeble  minds,  when  once  resolved,  frequently  persist  in 
their  projects,  rejected  their  advice,  and  pressed  for- 
ward on  his  march." 

The  advance  of  the  party  was  not  conducted  so  cau- 
tiously but  that  it  reached  the  ear  of  Don  Diego  Fer- 
nandez de  Cordova,  alcayde  de  los  donzeles,  or  captain  of 
the  royal  pages,  who  commanded  in  the  town  of  Lucena, 
which  he  rightly  judged  was  to  be  the  principal  object 
of  attack.  He  transmitted  the  intelligence  to  his  uncle 
the  count  of  Cabra,  a  nobleman  of  the  same  name  with 
himself,  who  was  posted  at  his  own  town  of  Baena,  re- 
questing his  support.  He  used  all  diligence  in  repair- 
ing the  fortifications  of  the  city,  which,  although  ex- 
tensive and  originally  strong,  had  fallen  somewhat  into 
decay;  and,  having  caused  such  of  the  population  as 
were  rendered  helpless  by  age  or  infirmity  to  withdraw 
into  the  interior  defences  of  the  place,  he  coolly  awaited 
the  approach  of  the  enemy.' 

»  Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  torn.  iii.  cap.  36. — Cardonne, 
Hist,  de  I'Afrique  et  de  I'Espagne,  torn.  iii.  pp.  267-271. — Bemaldez, 
Reyes  Catolicos,  MS.,  cap.  60. — Pedraza,  AntigUedad  de  Granada,  fol. 
10. — Marmol,  Rebelion  de  los  Moriscos,  lib.  i,  cap.  12. 

3  Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  part.  3,  cap.  20. — The  donzeles,  of  whom 
Diego  de  Cordova  was  alcayde,  or  captain,  were  a  body  of  young 
cavaliers,  originally  brought  up  as  pages  in  the  royal  household,  and 
organized  as  a  separate  corps  of  the  militia.  Salazar  de  Mendoza, 
P'.gnidades,  p.  259. — See  also  Morales,  Obras,  tom.  xiv.  p.  80. 


MILITARY  POLICY  OF  THE  SOVEREIGNS. 


469 


The  Moorish  army,  after  crossing  the  borders,  began 
to  mark  its  career  through  the  Christian  territory  with 
the  usual  traces  of  devastation,  and,  sweeping  across 
the  environs  of  Lucena,  poured  a  marauding  foray  into 
the  rich  campina  of  Cordova,  as  far  as  the  walls  of 
Aguilar;  whence  it  returned,  glutted  with  spoil,  to  lay 
siege  to  Lucena  about  the  21st  of  April. 

The  count  of  Cabra,  in  the  mean  while,  who  had 
lost  no  time  in  mustering  his  levies,  set  forward  at  the 
head  of  a  small  but  well-appointed  force,  consisting  of 
both  horse  and  foot,  to  the  relief  of  his  nephew.  He 
advanced  with  such  celerity  that  he  had  wellnigh  sur- 
prised the  beleaguering  army.  As  he  traversed  the 
sierra,  which  covered  the  Moorish  flank,  his  numbers 
were  partially  concealed  by  the  inequalities  of  the 
ground,  while  the  clash  of  arms  and  the  shrill  music, 
reverberating  among  the  hills,  exaggerated  their  real 
magnitude  in  the  apprehension  of  the  enemy.  At  the 
same  time  the  alcayde  de  los  donzeles  supported  his 
uncle's  advance  by  a  vigorous  sally  from  the  city.  The 
Granadine  infantry,  anxious  only  for  the  preservation 
of  their  valuable  booty,  scarcely  waited  for  the  encoun- 
ter, before  they  began  a  dastardly  retreat  and  left  the 
battle  to  the  cavalry.  The  latter,  composed,  as  has 
been  said,  of  the  strength  of  the  Moorish  chivalry, 
men  accustomed  in  many  a  border  foray  to  cross  lances 
with  the  best  knights  of  Andalusia,  kept  their  ground 
with  their  wonted  gallantry.  The  conflict,  so  well 
disputed,  remained  doubtful  for  some  time,  until  it  was 
determined  by  the  death  of  the  veteran  chieftain  Ali 
Atar,  **  the  best  lance,"  as  a  Castilian  writer  has  styled 
him,  **  of  all  Morisma,"  who  was  brought  to  the  ground 


47© 


IVAA'   OF  GRANADA. 


after  receiving  two  wounds,  and  thus  escaped  by  an 
honorable  death  the  melancholy  spectacle  of  his  coun- 
try's  humiliation. •♦ 

The  enemy,  disheartened  by  this  loss,  soon  began  to 
give  ground.  But,  though  hard  pressed  by  the  Span- 
iards, they  retreated  in  some  order,  until  they  reached 
the  borders  of  the  Xenil,  which  were  thronged  with 
the  infantry,  vainly  attempting  a  passage  across  the 
stream,  swollen  by  excessive  rains  to  a  height  much 
above  its  ordinary  level.  The  confusion  now  became 
universal,  horse  and  foot  mingling  together :  each  one, 
heedful  only  of  life,  no  longer  thought  of  his  booty. 
Many,  attempting  to  swim  the  stream,  were  borne 
down,  steed  and  rider,  promiscuously  in  its  waters. 
Many  more,  making  scarcely  a  show  of  resistance,  were 
cut  down  on  the  banks  by  the  pitiless  Spaniards.  The 
young  king  Abdallah,  who  had  been  conspicuous  during 
that  day  in  the  hottest  of  the  fight,  mounted  on  a  milk- 
white  charger  richly  caparisoned,  saw  fifty  of  his  loyal 
guard  fall  around  him.  Finding  his  steed  too  much 
jaded  to  stem  the  current  of  the  river,  he  quietly  dis- 
mounted and  sought  a  shelter  among  the  reedy  thickets 
that  fringed  its  margin,  until  the  storm  of  battle  should 
have  passed  over.  In  this  lurking-place,  however,  he 
was  discovered  by  a  common  soldier  named  Martin 
Hurtado,  who,  without  recognizing  his  person,  in- 
stantly attacked  him.  The  prince  defended  himself 
with  his  scimitar,  until  Hurtado,  being  joined  by  two 


4  Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  torn.  iii.  cap,  36. — Abarca, 
Reyes  de  Aragon,  torn.  ii.  fol.  302. — Carbajal,  Anales,  MS.,  ano  1483. 
— Bernaldez,  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS.,  cap.  61. — Pulgar,  Cr6nica,  cap. 
so. — Marmol,  Rebelion  de  los  Moriscos,  lib.  i,  cap.  12. 


MILITARY  POLICY  OF  THE  SOVEREIGNS. 


47» 


cap. 


of  his  countrymen,  succeeded  in  making  him  prisoner. 
The  men,  overjoyed  at  their  prize  (for  Abdallah  had 
revealed  ^'j  rank,  in  order  to  secure  his  person  from 
violence),  conducted  him  to  their  general,  the  count 
of  Cabra.  The  latter  received  the  royal  captive  with 
a  generous  courtesy,  the  best  sign  of  noble  breeding, 
and  a  feature  of  chivalry  which  affords  a  pleasing  con- 
trast to  the  ferocious  spirit  of  ancient  warfare.  The 
good  count  administered  to  the  unfortunate  prince 
all  the  consolations  which  his  state  would  admit,  and 
subsequently  lodged  him  in  his  castle  of  Baena,  where 
he  was  entertained  with  the  most  delicate  and  courtly 
hospitality,  s 

Nearly  the  whole  of  the  Moslem  cavalry  were  cut  up, 
or  captured,  in  this  fatal  action.  Many  of  them  were 
persons  of  rank,  commanding  high  ransoms.  The  loss 
inflicted  on  the  infantry  was  also  severe,  including 
the  whole  of  their  dear-bought  plunder.  Nine — or 
indeed,  according  to  some  accounts,  two-and-twenty — 
banners  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Christians  in  this 
action  ;  in  commemoration  of  which  the  Spanish  sover- 
eigns granted  to  the  count  of  Cabra,  and  his  nephew, 
the  alcayde  de  los  donzeles,  the  privilege  of  bearing  the 
same  number  of  banners  on  their  escutcheon,  together 
with  the  head  of  a  Moorish  king,  encircled  by  a  golden 

5  Garibay,  Compendio,  torn.  ii.  p.  637. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos, 
ubi  supra.  —  Bemaldez,  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS.,  cap.  61 . —  Conde, 
Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  torn.  iii.  cap.  36.  —  Cardonne,  Hist, 
de  I'Afrique  et  de  I'Espagne,  torn.  iii.  pp.  271-274. — The  various 
details,  even  to  the  site  of  the  battle,  are  told  in  the  usual  confused 
and  contradictory  manner  by  the  garrulous  chroniclers  of  the  period. 
All  authorities,  however,  both  Christian  and  Moorish,  agree  as  to  its 
general  results. 


472 


IVA^   OF  GRANADA. 


coronet,  with  a  chain  of  the  same  metal  around  the 
neck.* 

Great  was  the  consternation  occasioned  by  the  return 
of  the  Moorish  fugitives  to  Granada,  and  loud  was  the 
lament  through  its  populous  streets ;  for  the  pride  of 
many  a  noble  house  was  laid  low  on  that  day,  and 
their  king  (a  thing  unprecedented  in  the  annals  of  the 
monarchy)  was  a  prisoner  in  the  land  of  the  Christians. 
"The  hostile  star  of  Islam,"  exclaims  an  Arabic  writer, 
**  now  scattered  its  malignant  influences  over  Spain,  and 
the  downfall  of  the  Mussulman  empire  was  decreed." 

The  sultana  Zoraya,  however,  was  not  of  a  temper  to 
waste  time  in  useless  lamentation.  She  was  aware  that 
a  captive  king,  who  held  his  title  by  so  precarious  a 
tenure  as  did  her  son  Abdallah,  must  soon  cease  to  be  a 
king  even  in  name.  She  accordingly  despatched  a  numer- 
ous embassy  to  Cordova,  with  proffers  of  such  a  ransom 
for  the  prince's  liberation  as  a  despot  only  could  offer 
and  few  despots  could  have  the  authority  to  enforce.' 

King  Ferdinand,  who  was  at  Vitoria  with  the  queen, 
when  he  received  tidings  of  the  victory  of  Lucena, 
hastened  to  the  south  to  determine  on  the  destination 
of  his  royal  captive.  With  some  show  of  magnanimity, 
he  declined  an  interview  with  Abdallah  until  he  should 
have  consented  to  his  liberation.  A  debate  of  some 
warmth  occurred  in  the  royal  council  at  Cordova  re- 
specting the  policy  to  be  pursued ;  some  contending 
that  the  Moorish  monarch  was  too  valuable  a  prize  to 


6  Mendoza,  Dignidades,  p.  382. — Oviedo,  Quincuagewds,  MS.,  bat. 
I,  quinc.  4,  dial.  9. 

7  Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  torn.  iii.  cap.  36. — Cardonne, 
Hist,  de  I'Afrique  et  de  I'Espagne,  pp.  271-274. 


MILITARY  POLICY  OF  THE  SOVEREIGNS. 


473 


the 


be  so  readily  relinquished,  and  that  the  enemy,  broken 
by  the  loss  of  their  natural  leader,  would  find  it  difficult 
to  rally  under  one  common  head  or  to  concert  any 
effective  movement.  Others,  and  especially  the  marquis 
of  Cadiz,  urged  his  release,  and  even  the  support  of  his 
pretensions  against  his  competitor,  the  old  king  of 
Granada ;  insisting  that  the  Moorish  empire  would  be 
more  effectually  shaken  by  internal  divisions  than  by 
any  pressure  of  its  enemies  from  without.  The  various 
arguments  were  submitted  to  the  queen,  who  still  held 
her  court  in  the  north,  and  who  decided  for  the  release 
of  Abdallah,  as  a  measure  best  reconciling  sound  policy 
with  generosity  to  the  vanquished.^ 

The  terms  of  the  treaty,  although  sufficiently  hu- 
miliating to  the  Moslem  prince,  were  not  materially 
different  from  those  proposed  by  the  sultana  Zoraya.  It 
was  agreed  that  a  truce  of  two  years  should  be  extended 
to  Abdallah,  and  to  such  places  in  Granada  as  acknowl- 
edged his  authority;  in  consideration  of  which,  he 
stipulated  to  surrender  four  hundred  Christian  captives 
without  ransom,  to  pay  twelve  thousand  doblas  of  gold 
annually  to  the  Spanish  sovereigns,  and  to  permit  a 
free  passage,  as  well  as  furnish  supplies,  to  their  troops 
passing  through  his  territories  for  the  purpose  of  carry- 
ing on  the  war  against  that  portion  of  the  kingdom 
which  still  adhered  to  his  father.  Abdallah  moreover 
bound  himself  to  appear  when  summoned  by  Ferdinand, 
and  to  surrender  his  own  son,  with  the  children  of  his 


I 


.,  bat. 


onne, 


8  Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  cap.  23. — Marmol,  Rebelion  de  los  Moris- 
cos,  lib.  I,  cap.  12. — Charles  V.  does  not  seem  to  have  partaken  of  his 
grandfather's  delicacy  in  regard  to  an  interview  with  his  royal  captive, 
or  indeed  in  any  part  of  his  defwrtment  towards  him. 


474 


H^AA'   OF  GRANADA. 


principal  nobility,  as  sureties  for  his  fulfilment  of  the 
treaty.  Thus  did  the  unhappy  prince  barter  away  his 
honor  and  his  country's  freedom  for  the  possession  of 
immediate  but  most  precarious  sovereignty;  a  sover- 
eignty which  could  scarcely  be  expected  to  survive 
the  period  when  he  could  be  useful  to  the  master  whose 
breath  had  made  him.' 

The  terms  of  the  treaty  being  thus  definitively  settled, 
an  interview  was  arranged  to  take  place  between  the  two 
monarchs  at  Cordova.  The  Castilian  courtiers  would 
have  persuaded  their  master  to  offer  his  hand  for  Ab- 
dallah  to  salute,  in  token  of  his  feudal  supremacy ;  but 
Ferdinand  replied,  "Were  the  king  of  Granada  in  his 
own  dominions,  I  might  do  this ;  but  not  while  he  is  a 
prisoner  in  mine."  The  Moorish  prince  entered  Cor- 
dova with  an  escort  of  his  own  knights,  and  a  splendid 
throng  of  Spanish  chivalry,  who  had  marched  out  of 
the  city  to  receive  him.  When  Abdallah  entered  the 
royal  presence,  he  would  have  prostrated  himself  on  his 
knees ;  but  Ferdinand,  hastening  to  prevent  him,  em- 
braced him  with  every  demonstration  of  respect.  An 
Arabic  interpreter,  who  acted  as  orator,  then  expatiated, 
in  florid  hyperbole,  on  the  magnanimity  and  princely 
qualities  of  the  Spanish  king,  and  the  loyalty  and  good 
faith  of  his  own  master.  But  Ferdinand  interrupted  his 
eloquence  with  the  assurance  that  "his  panegyric  was 
superfluous,  and  that  he  had  perfect  confidence  that  the 
sovereign  of  Granada  would  keep  his  faith  as  became  a 
true  knight  and  a  king."  After  ceremonies  so  humili- 
ating to  the  Moorish  prince,  notwithstanding  the  veil 

9  Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  ubi  supra. — Conde,  Dominacion  de  los 
Arabes,  cap.  36. 


MILITARY  POLICY  OF  THE  SOVEREIGNS. 


47S 


of  decorum  studiously  thrown  over  them,  he  set  out 
with  his  attendants  for  his  capital,  escorted  by  a  body 
of  Andalusian  horse  to  the  frontier,  and  loaded  with 
costly  presents  by  the  Spanish  king,  and  the  general 
contempt  of  his  court."* 

Notwithstanding  the  importance  of  the  results  in  the 
war  of  Granada,  a  detail  of  the  successive  steps  by 
which  they  were  achieved  would  be  most  tedious  and 
trifling.  No  siege  or  single  military  achievement  of 
great  moment  occurred  until  nearly  four  years  from  this 
period,  in  1487;  although  in  the  intervening  time  a 
large  number  of  fortresses  and  petty  towns,  together 
with  a  very  extensive  tract  of  territory,  were  recovered 
from  the  enemy.  Without  pursuing  the  chronological 
ord'.ir  of  events,  it  is  probable  that  the  end  of  history 
will  be  best  attained  by  presenting  a  concise  view  of  the 
general  policy  pursued  by  the  sovereigns  in  the  conduct 
of  the  war. 

The  Moorish  wars  under  preceding  monarchs  had 
consisted  of  little  else  than  cavalgadas,  or  inroads  into 
the  enemy's  territory,"  which,  pouring  like  a  torrent 
over  the  land,  swept  away  whatever  was  upon  the  sur- 
face, but  left  it  in  its  essential  resources  wholly  unim- 
paired. The  bounty  of  nature  soon  repaired  the  ravages 
of  man,  and  the  ensuing  harvest  seemed  to  shoot  up 
more  abundantly  from  the  soil  enriched  by  the  blood 
of  the  husbandman.  A  more  vigorous  system  of  spolia- 
tion was  now  introduced.     Instead  of  one  campaign, 

»°  Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  loc.  cit. — Conde,  Dominacion  de  los 
Arabes,  cap.  36. 

"  The  term  cavalgada  seems  to  be  used  indifferently  by  the  ancient 
Spanish  writers  to  represent  a  marauding  party,  the  foray  itself,  or  the 
booty  taken  in  it. 


I 


11 


476 


tVAM   OF  GRANADA. 


the  army  took  the  field  in  spring  and  autumn,  inter- 
mitting its  efforts  only  during  the  intolerable  heats  of 
summer,  so  that  the  green  crop  had  no  time  to  ripen, 
ere  it  was  trodden  down  under  the  iron  heel  of  war. 

The  apparatus  for  devastation  was  also  on  a  much 
greater  scale  than  had  ever  before  been  witnessed. 
From  the  second  year  of  the  war,  thirty  thousand  for- 
agers were  reserved  for  this  service,  which  they  effected 
by  demolishing  farm-houses,  granaries,  and  mills  (which 
last  were  exceedingly  numerous  in  a  land  watered  by 
many  small  streams),  by  eradicating  the  vines  and  lay- 
ing waste  the  olive-gardens  and  plantations  of  oranges, 
almonds,  mulberries,  and  all  the  rich  varieties  that  grew 
luxuriant  in  this  highly-favored  region.  This  merciless 
devastation  extended  for  more  than  two  leagues  on 
either  side  of  the  line  of  march.  At  the  same  time,  the 
Mediterranean  fleet  cut  off  all  supplies  from  the  Bar- 
bary  coast,  so  that  the  whole  kingdom  might  be  said 
to  be  in  a  state  of  perpetual  blockade.  Such  and  so 
general  was  the  scarcity  occasioned  by  this  system,  that 
the  Moors  were  glad  to  exchange  their  Christian  captives 
for  provisions,  until  such  ransom  was  interdicted  by  the 
sovereigns,  as  tending  to  defeat  their  own  measures." 

Still  there  was  many  a  green  and  sheltered  valley  in 
Granada  which  yielded  its  returns  unmolested  to  the 
Moorish  hiisbandman  \  while  his  granaries  were  occa- 
sionally enriched  with  the  produce  of  a  border  foray. 
The  Moors,  too,  although  naturally  a  luxurious  people, 
were  patient  of  suffering,  and  capable  of  enduring  great 
privation.     Other  measures,  therefore,  of  a  still  more 

"  Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  cap.  22. — Mem.  de  la  Acad,  de  Hist., 
torn.  vi.  Ilust.  6. 


MILITARY  POLICY  OF  THE  SOVEREIGNS. 


477 


formidable  character,  became  necessary  in  conjunction 
witli  this  rigorous  system  of  blockade. 

The  Moorish  towns  were  for  the  most  part  strongly 
defended,  presenting  within  the  limits  of  Granada,  as 
has  been  said,  more  than  ten  times  the  number  of 
fortified  places  that  are  now  scattered  over  the  whole 
extent  of  the  Peninsula.  They  stood  along  the  crest 
of  some  precipice  or  bold  sierra,  whose  natural  strength 
was  augmented  by  the  solid  masonry  with  which  they 
were  surrounded,  and  which,  however  insufficient  to 
hold  out  against  modern  artillery,  bade  defiance  to  all 
the  enginery  of  battering  warfare  known  previously  to 
the  fifteenth  century.  It  was  this  strength  of  fortifica- 
tion, combined  with  that  of  their  local  position,  which 
frequently  enabled  a  slender  garrison  in  these  places 
to  laugh  to  scorn  all  the  efforts  of  the  proudest  Castilian 
armies. 

The  Spanish  sovereigns  were  convinced  that  they 
must  look  to  their  artillery  as  the  only  effectual  means 
for  the  reduction  of  these  strongholds.  In  this,  they  as 
well  as  the  Moors  were  extremely  deficient,  although 
Spain  appears  to  have  furnished  earlier  examples  of  its 
use  than  any  other  country  in  Europe.  Isabella,  who 
seems  to  have  had  the  particular  control  of  this  depart- 
ment, caused  the  most  skilful  engineers  and  artisans  to 
be  invited  into  the  kingdom  fVom  France,  Germany, 
and  Italy.  Forges  were  constructed  in  the  camp,  and 
all  the  requisite  materials  prepared  for  the  manufacture 
of  cannon,  balls,  and  powder.  Large  quantities  of  the 
last  were  also  imported  from  Sicily,  Flanders,  and  Por- 
tugal. Commissaries  were  established  over  the  various 
departments,  with  instructions  to  provide  whatever 


478 


IVAH   OF  GRANADA. 


might  be  necessary  for  the  operatives ;  and  the  whole 
was  intrusted  to  the  supervision  of  Don  Francisco 
Ramirez,  an  hidalgo  of  Madrid,  a  person  of  much  ex- 
perience, and  extensive  military  science,  for  that  day. 
By  these  efforts,  unremittingly  pursued  during  the  whole 
of  the  war,  Isabella  assembled  a  train  of  artillery  such 
as  was  probably  not  possessed  at  that  time  by  any  other 
European  potentate.*' 

Still  the  clumsy  construction  of  the  ordnance  be- 
trayed the  infancy  of  the  art.  More  than  twenty 
pieces  of  artillery  used  at  the  siege  of  Ba,za  during  this 
war  are  still  to  be  seen  in  that  city,  where  they  long 
served  as  columns  in  the  public  market-place.  The 
largest  of  the  Jombards,  as  the  heavy  ordnance  was 
called,  are  abo  it  twelve  feet  in  length,  consisting  of 
iron  bars  two  inches  in  breadth,  held  together  by  bolts 
and  rings  of  the  same  metal.  These  were  firmly 
attached  to  their  carriages,  incapable  either  of  hori- 
zontal or  vertical  movement.  It  was  this  clumsiness 
of  construction  which  led  Machiavelli,  some  thirty 
years  after,  to  doubt  the  expediency  of  bringing  cannon 
into  field  engagements;  and  he  particularly  recom- 
mends, in  his  treatise  on  the  Art  of  War,  that  the 
enemy's  fire  should  be  evaded,  by  intervals  in  the 
ranks  being  left  open  opposite  to  his  cannon.'* 

The  balls  thrown  from  these  engines  were  sometimes 
of  iron,  but  more  usually  of  marble.  Several  hundred 
of  the  latter  have  been  picked  up  in  the  fields  around 
Baza,  many  of  which  are  fourteen  inches  in  diameter 

»3  Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  cap.  32,  41. — Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  lib. 
ao,  cap.  59. — Lebrija,  Rerum  Gestarum  Decades,  il.  lib.  3,  cap.  5. 
>♦  Machiavelli,  Arte  della  Guerra,  lib.  3. 


MILITARY  POLICY  OF  THE  SOVEREIGNS. 


479 


and  weigh  a  hundred  and  seventy-five  pounds.  Yet 
this  bulk,  enormous  as  it  appears,  shows  a  considerable 
advance  in  the  art  since  the  beginning  of  the  century, 
when  the  stone  balls  discharged,  according  to  Zurita, 
at  the  siege  of  Balaguer,  weighed  not  less  than  five 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds.  It  was  very  long  before  the 
exact  proportions  requisite  for  obtaining  the  greatest 
.effective  force  could  be  ascertained. '* 

The  awkwardness  with  which  their  artillery  was 
served  corresponded  with  the  rudeness  of  its  manufac- 
ture. It  is  noticed  as  a  remarkable  circumstance  by  the 
chronicler,  that  two  batteries,  at  the  siege  of  Albahar, 
discharged  one  hundred  and  forty  balls  in  the  course 
of  a  day.'*  Besides  this  more  usual  kind  of  ammu- 
nition, the  Spaniards  threw  from  their  engines  large 
globular  masses  composed  of  certain  inflammable  in- 
gredients mixed  with  gunpowder,  "which,  scattering 
long  trains  of  light,"  says  an  eye-witness,  "in  their 
passage  through  the  air,  filled  the  beholders  with  dis- 
may, and,  descending  on  the  roofs  of  the  edifices, 
frequently  occasioned  extensive  conflagration. "'^ 

'S  Mem.  de  la  Acad,  de  Hist.,  torn.  vi.  Ilust.  6. — According  toGibbon, 
the  cannon  used  by  Mahomet  in  the  siej^e  of  Constantinople,  about 
thirty  years  before  this  time,  threw  stone  balls  which  weighed  above 
six  hundred  pounds.  The  measure  of  the  bore  was  twelve  palms. 
Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  chap.  68. 

»6  Mem.  de  la  Acad,  de  Hist.,  torn.  vi.  Ilust.  6. — We  get  a  more 
precise  notion  of  the  awkwardness  with  which  the  artillery  was  served 
in  the  infancy  of  the  science,  from  a  fact  recorded  in  the  Chronicle  of 
John  n.,  that  at  the  siege  of  Setenil,  in  1407,  five  lombards  were  able 
to  discharge  only  forty  shot  in  the  course  of  a  day.  We  have  wit- 
nessed an  invention  in  our  time,  that  of  our  ingenious  countryman 
Jacob  Perkins,  by  which  a  gun,  with  the  aid  of  that  miracle-worker, 
steam,  is  en<ibled  to  throw  a  thousand  bullets  in  a  single  minute. 

«7  L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  174. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61i- 


48o 


Pf^A/i   OF  GRANADA. 


The  transportation  of  their  bulky  engines  was  not 
the  least  of  the  difficulties  which  the  Spaniards  had  to 
encounter  in  this  war.  The  Moorish  fortresses  were 
frequently  intrenched  in  the  depths  of  some  mountain 
labyrinth,  whose  rugged  passes  were  scarcely  accessible 
to  cavalry.  An  immense  body  of  pioneers,  therefore, 
was  constantly  employed  in  constructing  roads  for  the 
artillery  across  these  sierras,  by  levelling  the  mountains, 
filling  up  the  intervening  valleys  with  rocks,  or  with 
cork-trees  and  other  timber  that  grew  prolific  in  the 
wilderness,  and  throwing  bridges  across  the  torrents 
and  precipitous  barrancos.  Pulgar  had  the  curiosity 
to  examine  one  of  the  causeways  thus  constructed, 
preparatory  to  the  siege  of  Cambil,  which,  although 
six  thousand  pioneers  were  constantly  employed  in  the 
work,  was  attended  with  such  difficulty  that  it  advanced 
only  three  leagues  in  twelve  days.  It  required,  says 
the  historian,  the  entire  demolition  of  one  of  the  most 
rugged  parts  of  the  sierra,  which  no  one  could  have 
believed  practicable  by  human  industry.'^ 

The  Moorish  garrisons,  perched  on  their  mountain 
fastnesses,  which,  like  the  eyry  of  some  bird  of  prey, 
seemed  almost  inaccessible  to  man,  beheld  with  aston- 
ishment the  heavy  trains  of  artillery  emerging  from 
the  passes  where  the  foot  of  the  hunter  had  scarcely 

cos,  cap.  44. — Some  writers,  as  the  Abb6  Mignot  (Histoire  des  Rois 
Catholiques  Ferdinand  et  Isabelle  (Paris,  1766),  torn.  i.  p.  273),  have 
referred  the  invention  of  bombs  to  the  siege  of  Ronda.  I  find  no  au- 
thority for  this.  Pulgar's  words  are,  "They  made  many  iron  balls, 
large  and  small,  some  of  which  they  cast  in  a  mould,  having  reduced 
the  iron  to  a  state  of  fusion,  so  that  it  would  run  like  any  other  metal." 
«8  Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  cap.  51. — Bemaldez,  Reyes  Catdlicos, 
MS.,  cap.  82. 


MILITARY  POLICY  OF  THE  SOVEREIGNS.     481 

been  known  to  venture.  The  walls  which  encompassed 
their  cities,  although  lofty,  were  not  of  sufficient  thick- 
ness to  withstand  long  the  assaults  of  these  formidable 
engines.  The  Moors  were  deficient  in  heavy  ordnance. 
The  weapons  on  which  they  chiefly  relied  for  annoying 
the  enemy  at  a  distance  were  the  arquebuse  and  cross- 
bow, with  the  last  of  which  they  were  unerring  marks- 
men, being  trained  to  it  from  infancy.  They  adopted 
a  custom,  rarely  met  with  in  civilized  nations  of  any 
age,  of  poisoning  their  arrows ;  distilling  for  this  pur- 
pose the  juice  of  aconite,  or  wolfsbane,  which  grew 
rife  in  the  Sierra  Nevada,  or  Snowy  Mountains,  near 
(t  i.nada.  A  piece  of  linen  or  cotton  cloth  steeped  in 
v  i^coction  was  wrapped  round  the  point  of  the 
V  ^-pon,  and  the  wound  inflicted  by  it,  however  trivial 
in  appearance,  was  sure  to  be  mortal.  Indeed,  a  Span- 
ish writer,  not  content  with  this,  imputes  such  malig- 
nity to  the  virus,  that  a  drop  of  it,  as  he  asserts,  min- 
gling with  the  blood  oozing  from  a  wound,  would 
ascend  the  stream  into  the  vein,  and  difiuse  its  fatal 
influence  over  the  whole  system  ! '' 

Ferdinand,  who  appeared  at  the  head  of  his  armies 
throughout  the  whole  of  this  war,  pursued  a  sagacious 
policy  in  reference  to  the  beleaguered  cities.  He  was 
ever  ready  to  meet  the  first  overtures  to  surrender,  in 
the  most  liberal  spirit ;  granting  protection  of  person, 
and  such  property  as  the  besieged  could  transport  with 
them,  and  assigning  them  a  residence,  if  they  preferred 


*9  Mendoza,  Guerra  de  Granada  (Valencia,  1776),  pp.  73,  74. — Zu- 
rita,  Anales,  torn.  iv.  lib.  20,  cap.  59. — Mem.  de  la  Acad,  de  Hist., 
torn.  vi.  p.  168. — According  to  Mendoza,  a  decoction  of  the  quince 
furnished  the  most  effectual  antidote  known  against  this  poison. 
Vol.  I. — 31  v 


482 


H'A/i   OF  GRANADA. 


it,  in  his  own  dominions.  Many,  in  consequence  of 
this,  migrated  to  Seville  and  other  cities  of  Andalusia, 
where  they  were  settled  on  estates  which  had  been 
confiscated  by  the  inquisitors;  who  looked  forward, 
no  doubt,  with  satisfaction  to  the  time  when  they 
should  be  permitted  to  thrust  their  sickle  into  the  new 
crop  of  heresy  whose  seeds  were  thus  sown  amid  the 
ashes  of  the  old  one.  Those  who  preferred  to  remain 
in  the  conquered  Moorish  territory,  as  Castilian  sub- 
jects, were  permitted  the  free  enjoyment  of  personal 
rights  and  property,  as  well  as  of  their  religion ;  and 
such  was  the  fidelity  with  which  Ferdinand  redeemed 
his  engagements  during  the  war,  by  the  punishment  of 
the  least  infraction  of  them  by  his  own  people,  that 
many,  particularly  of  the  Moorish  peasantry,  preferred 
abiding  in  their  early  homes  to  removing  to  Granada 
or  other  places  of  the  Moslem  dominion.  It  was  per- 
haps a  counterpart  of  the  same  policy  which  led  Ferdi- 
nand to  chastise  any  attempt  at  revolt  on  the  part  of 
his  new  Moorish  subjects,  the  Mudejares,  as  they  were 
called,  with  an  unsparing  rigor  which  merits  the  re- 
proach of  cruelty.  Such  was  the  military  execution 
inflicted  on  the  rebellious  town  of  Benemaquez,  where 
he  commanded  one  hundred  and  ten  of  the  principal 
inhabitants  to  be  hung  above  the  walls,  and,  after  con- 
signing the  rest  of  the  population,  men,  women,  and 
children,  to  slavery,  caused  the  place  to  be  razed  to 
the  ground.  The  humane  policy  usually  pursued  by 
Ferdinand  seems  to  have  had  a  more  favorable  effect 
on  his  enemies,  who  were  exasperated,  rather  than 
intimidated,  by  this  ferocious  act  of  vengeance.* 

«>  Abarca,  Reyes  de  Aragon,  torn.  ii.  fol.  304. — Lebrija,  Reram  Ges- 


MILITARY  POLICY  OF  THE  SOVEREIGNS. 


483 


The  magnitude  of  the  other  preparations  corre- 
sponded with  those  for  the  ordnance  department. 
The  amount  of  forces  assembled  at  Cordova  we  find 
variously  stated  at  ten  and  twelve  thousand  horse,  and 
twenty  and  even  forty  thousand  foot,  exclusive  of 
foragers.  On  one  occasion,  the  whole  number,  in- 
cluding men  for  the  artillery  service  and  the  followers 
of  the  camp,  is  reckoned  at  eighty  thousand.  The 
same  number  of  beasts  of  burden  were  employed  in 
transporting  the  supplies  required  for  this  immense 
host,  as  well  as  for  provisioning  the  conquered  cities 
standing  in  the  midst  of  a  desolated  country.  The 
queen,  who  took  this  department  under  her  special 
cognizance,  moved  along  the  frontier,  stationing  her- 
self at  points  most  contiguous  to  the  scene  of  opera- 
tions. There,  by  means  of  posts  regularly  established, 
she  received  hourly  intelligence  of  the  war.  At  the 
same  time  she  transmitted  the  requisite  munitions  for 
the  troops,  by  means  of  convoys  sufficiently  strong  to 
secure  them  against  the  irruptions  of  the  wily  enemy." 

Isabella,  solicitous  for  everything  that  concerned  the 
welfare  of  her  people,  sometimes  visited  the  camp  in 
person,  encouraging  the  soldiers  to  endure  the  hard- 
ships of  war,  and  relieving  their  necessities  by  liberal 
donations  of  clothes  and  money.     She  caused  also  a 

tarum  Decades,  ii.  lib.  4,  cap.  2. — Bernaldez,  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS., 
cap.  76. — Marmol,  Rebelion  de  los  Moriscos,  lib.  i,  cap.  12. — Pulgar, 
who  is  by  no  means  bigoted  for  the  age,  seems  to  think  the  liberal 
terms  granted  by  Ferdinand  to  the  i.jiemies  of  the  faith  stand  in  need 
of  perpetual  apology.    See  Reyes  Catolicos,  cap.  44  et  passim. 

!"  Bernaldez,  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS.,  cap.  75. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat6- 
licos,  cap.  21,  33,  42. — Lebrija,  Rerum  Gestarum  Decades,  ii.  lib.  8, 
cap.  6. — Marmol,  Rebelion  de  los  Moriscos,  lib.  i,  cap.  13. 


484 


fVA/t   OF  GRANADA. 


number  of  large  tents,  known  as  "the  queen's  hospi- 
tals," to  be  always  reserved  for  the  sick  and  wounded, 
and  furnished  them  with  the  requisite  attendants  and 
medicines,  at  her  own  charge.  This  is  considered  the 
earliest  attempt  at  the  formation  of  a  regular  camp 
hospital,  on  record." 

Isabella  may  be  regarded  as  the  soul  of  this  war. 
She  engaged  in  it  with  the  most  exalted  views,  less  to 
acquire  t-Tritory  than  to  re-establish  the  empire  of  the 
Cross  over  the  ancient  domain  of  Christendom.  On 
this  point  she  concentrated  all  the  energies  of  her 
powerful  mind,  never  sufi'ering  herself  to  be  diverted 
by  any  subordinate  interest  from  this  one  great  and 
glorious  object.  When  the  king,  in  1484,  would  have 
paused  a  while  from  the  Granadine  war,  in  order  to 
prosecute  his  claims  to  Roussillon  against  the  French, 
after  the  death  of  Louis  the  Eleventh,  Isabella  strongly 
objected  to  it ;  but,  finding  her  remonstrance  ineffect- 
ual, she  left  her  husband  in  Aragon,  and  repaired  to 
Cordova,  where  she  placed  the  cardinal  of  Spain  at  the 
head  of  the  army,  and  prepared  to  open  the  campaign 
in  the  usual  vigorous  manner.  Here,  however,  she  was 
soon  joined  by  Ferdinand,  who,  on  a  cooler  revision 
of  the  subject,  deemed  it  prudent  to  postpone  his 
projected  enterprise. 

On  another  occasion,  in  the  same  year,  whta  thv. 
nobles,  fatigued  with  the  service,  had  persuaded  the 
king  to  retire  earlier  than  usual,  the  queen,  dissatisfied 
with  the  proceeding,  addressed  a  letter  to  her  husband, 
in  which,  after  representing  the  disproportion  of  the 


"  Mem.  d6  la  Acad,  de  Hist.,  torn.  vi.  Ilust.  6. 


MILITARY  POLICY  OF  THE  SOVEREIGNS. 


485 


.A 


results  to  the  preparations,  she  besought  him  to  keep 
the  field  as  long  as  the  season  should  serve.  "The 
grandees,"  says  Lebrija,  '*  mortified  at  being  surpassed 
in  zeal  for  the  holy  war  by  a  woman,  eagerly  collected 
their  forces,  which  had  been  partly  dish  .  >  ;  1,  and  re- 
turned across  the  borders  to  renew  hostilities. "'' 

A  circumstance  which  had  frequently  frustrated  the 
most  magnificent  military  enterprises  under  former 
reigns  was  the  factions  of  these  potent  vassals,  who, 
independent  of  each  other,  and  ahnost  of  the  crown, 
could  rarely  be  brought  to  act  in  efficient  concert  for  a 
length  of  time,  and  broke  up  the  camp  on  the  slightest 
personal  jealousy.  Ferdinand  experienced  something 
of  this  temper  in  the  duke  of  Medina  Celi,  who,  when 
he  had  received  orders  to  detach  a  corps  of  his  troops 
to  the  support  of  the  count  of  Benavente,  refused, 
replying  to  the  messenger,  "Tell  your  master  that  I 
came  here  to  serve  him  at  the  head  of  my  household 
troops,  and  they  go  nowhere  without  me  as  their 
leader."  The  sovereigns  managed  this  fiery  spirit 
with  the  greatest  address,  and,  instead  of  curbing  it, 
endeavored  to  direct  it  in  the  path  of  honorable  emu- 
lation. The  queen,  who  as  their  hereditary  sovereign 
received  a  more  deferential  homage  from  her  Castilian 
subjects  than  Ferdinand,  frequently  wrote  to  her  nobles 
in  the  camp,  complimenting  some  on  their  achieve- 
ments, and  others  less  fortunate  on  their  intentions, 
thus  cheering  the  hearts  of  all,  says  the  chronicler,  and 
stimulating  them  to  deeds  of  heroism.  On  the  most 
deserving  she  freely  lavished  those  honors  which  cost 


«J  Lebrija,  Rerum  Gestarum 
Reyes  Cat61icos,  cap.  31. 


Decades,  ii.  lib.  3,  cap.  6. — Pulgar, 


486 


IVA/l   OF  GRANADA. 


little  to  the  sovereign  but  are  most  grateful  to  the  sub- 
ject. The  marquis  of  Cadiz  who  was  pre-eminent 
above  every  other  captain  in  this  war  for  sagacity  and 
conduct,  was  rewarded  after  his  brilliant  surprise  of 
Zahara  with  the  gift  of  that  city,  and  the  titles  of  mar- 
quis of  Zahara  and  duke  of  Cadiz.  The  warrior,  how- 
ever, was  unwilling  to  resign  the  ancient  title  under 
which  he  had  won  his  laurels,  and  ever  after  subscribed 
himself  marquis  duke  of  Cadiz."*  Still  more  emphatic 
honors  were  conferred  on  the  count  de  Cabra,  after  the 
capture  of  the  king  of  Granada.  When  he  presented 
himself  before  the  sovereigns,  who  were  at  Vitoria,  the 
clergy  and  cavaliers  of  the  dty  marched  out  to  receive 
him,  and  he  entered  in  solemn  procession  on  the  right 
hand  of  the  grand  cardinal  of  Spain.  As  he  advanced 
up  the  hall  of  audience  in  the  royal  palace,  the  king 
and  queen  came  forward  to  welcome  him,  and  then 
seated  him  by  themselves  at  table,  declaring  that  "the 
conqueror  of  kings  should  sit  with  kings."  These 
honors  were  followed  by  the  more  substantial  gratuity 
of  a  hundred  thousand  maravedis  annual  rent;  **a 
fat  donative,"  says  an  old  chronicler,  "for  so  lean 
a  treasury."  The  young  alcayde  de  los  donzeles 
experienced  a  similar  reception  on  the  ensuing  day. 
Such  acts  of  royal  condescension  were  especially  grate- 
ful to  the  nobility  of  a  court  circumscribed  beyond 
every  other  in  Europe  by  stately  and  ceremonious  eti- 
quette. =s 

24  After  another  daring  achievement,  the  sovereigns  granted  him  and 
his  heirs  the  royal  suit  worn  by  the  monarchs  of  Castile  on  Lady-day ; 
a  present,  says  Abarca,  not  to  be  estimated  by  its  cost. — Reyes  de 
Aragon,  tom.  ii.  fol.  303. 

"S  Abarca,  Reyes  de  Aragon,  ubi  supra. — Peter  Martyr,  Opus  Epist., 


MILITARY  POLICY  OF  THE  SOVEREIGNS. 


487 


The  duration  of  the  war  of  Granada  was  such  as  to 
raise  the  milit'«  ♦hroughout  the  kingdom  nearly  to  a 
level  with  regv  .  troops.  Many  of  these  levies,  indeed, 
at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  might  pretend  to  this 
character.  Such  were  those  furnished  by  the  Anda- 
lusian  cities,  which  had  been  long  accustomed  to  skir- 
mishes with  their  Moslem  neighbors.  Such,  too,  was 
the  well-appointed  chivalry  of  the  military  orders,  and 
the  organized  militia  of  the  hermandad,  which  we  find 
sometimes  supplying  a  body  of  ten  thousand  men  for 
the  service.  To  these  may  be  added  the  splendid 
throng  of  cavaliers  and  hidalgos,  who  swelled  the  reti- 
nues of  the  sovereigns  and  the  great  nobility.  The 
king  was  attended  in  battle  by  a  body-guard  of  a 
thousand  knights,  one  half  light  and  the  other  half 
heavy  armed,  all  superbly  equipped  and  mounted,  and 
trained  to  arms  from  childhood  under  the  royal  eye. 

Although  the  burden  of  the  war  bore  most  heavily  on 
Andalusia,  from  its  contiguity  to  the  scene  of  action, 
yet  recruits  were  drawn  in  abundance  from  the  most 
remote  provinces,  as  Galicia,  Biscay,  and  the  Asturias, 
from  Aragon,  and  even  the  transmarine  dominions  of 
Sicily.  The  sovereigns  did  not  disdain  to  swell  their 
ranks  with  levies  of  a  humbler  description,  by  promising 
an  entire  amnesty  to  those  malefactors  who  had  left  the 
country  in  great  numbers  of  late  years  to  escape  justice, 
on  condition  of  their  serving  in  the  Moorish  war. 
Throughout  this  motley  host  the  strictest  discipline 
and  decorum  were  maintained.  The  Spaniards  have 
never  been  disposed  to  intemperance ;  but  the  passion 

lib.  I,  epist.  41. — Bemaldez,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  68. — Zurita, 
Anales,  torn.  iv.  cap.  58. 


488 


fVAH   OF  GRAI^ADA. 


for  gaming,  especially  with  dice,  to  which  they  seem 
to  have  been  immoderately  addicted  at  that  day,  was 
restrained  by  the  severest  penalties.'** 

The  brilliant  successes  of  the  Spanish  sovereigns  dif- 
fused general  satisfaction  throughout  Christendom,  and 
volunteers  flocked  to  the  camp  from  France,  England, 
and  other  parts  of  Europe,  eager  to  participate  in  the 
glorious  triumphs  of  the  Cross.  Among  these  was  a 
corps  of  Swiss  mercenaries,  who  are  thus  simply  de- 
scribed by  Pulgar:  "There  joined  the  royal  standard 
a  body  of  men  from  Switzerland,  a  country  in  upper 
Germany.  These  men  were  bold  of  heart,  and  fought 
on  foot.  As  they  were  resolved  never  to  turn  their 
backs  upon  the  enemy,  they  wore  no  defensive  armor, 
except  in  front ;  by  which  means  they  were  less  en- 
cumbered in  fight.  They  made  a  trade  of  war,  letting 
themselves  out  as  mercenaries;  but  they  espoused 
only  a  just  quarrel,  for  they  were  devout  and  loyal 
Christians,  and  above  all  abhorred  rapine  as  a  great 
sin.""'  The  Swiss  had  recently  established  their  mili- 
tary renown  by  the  discomfiture  of  Charles  the  Bold, 
when  they  first  proved  the  superiority  of  infantry  over 
the  best-appointed  chivalry  of  Europe.  Their  ex- 
ample no  doubt  contributed  to  the  formation  of  that 
invincible  Spanish  infantry,  which,  under  the  Great- 
Captain  and  his  successors,  may  be  said  to  have  de- 
cided the  fate  of  Christendom  for  more  than  half  a 
century. 

Among  the  foreigners  was  one  from  the  distant  isle 

^  Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  cap.  31,  67,  69. — Lebrija,  Rerum  Gesta- 
rum  Decades,  ii.  lib.  2,  cap.  10. 
"7  Reyes  Cat61icos,  cap.  21. 


AIILITARY  POLICY  OF   THE  SOVEREIGNS. 


489 


of  Britain,  the  earl  of  Rivers,  or  conde  de  Escalas,  as 
he  is  called  from  his  patronymic,  Scales,*  by  the  Span- 
ish writers.  "There  came  from  Britain,"  says  Peter 
Martyr,  "a  cavalier,  young,  wealthy,  and  high-born. 
He  was  allied  to  the  blood  royal  of  England.  He  was 
attended  by  a  beautiful  train  of  household  troops,  three 
hundred  in  number,  armed  after  the  fashion  of  their 
land  with  long-bow  and  battle-axe."  This  nobleman 
particularly  distinguished  himself  by  his  gallantry  in 
the  second  siege  of  Loja,  in  i486.  Having  asked  leave 
to  fight  after  the  manner  of  his  country,  says  the  Anda- 
lusian  chronicler,  he  dismounted  from  his  good  steed, 
and,  putting  himself  at  the  head  of  his  followers,  armed 
like  himself  en  bianco,  with  their  swords  at  their  thighs, 
and  battle-axes  in  their  hands,  he  dealt  such  terrible 
blows  around  him  as  filled  even  the  hardy  mountaineers 
of  the  north  with  astonishment.  Unfortunately,  just  as 
the  suburbs  were  carried,  the  good  knight,  as  he  was 
mounting  a  scaling-ladder,  received  a  blow  from  a 
stone,  which  dashed  out  two  of  his  teeth  and  stretched 
him  senseless  on  the  ground.  He  was  removed  to  his 
tent,  where  he  lay  some  time  under  medical  treatment ; 
and,  when  he  had  sufficiently  recovered,  he  received  a 
VHsit  from  the  king  and  queen,  who  complimented  him 
on  his  prowess  and  testified   their  sympathy  for  his 

*  [The  family  name,  as  few  readers  of  English  history  will  need  to 
be  reminded,  was  not  Scales,  but  Widvile,  or  WydevUe,  often  modern- 
ized as  Woodville ;  and  the  person  mentioned  in  the  text,  Sir  Edward 
Widvile,  had  no  claim  to  the  designation  either  of  Earl  Rivers  or  Lord 
Scales,  the  former  title  having  passed  to  his  brother  Richard,  and  the 
latter  having  fallen  into  abeyance,  on  the  death,  without  issue,  in  1483, 
of  the  most  famous  member  of  the  family,  Anthony  Widvile,  the 
second  earl. — Ed.] 

V* 


490 


IVA/i    OF  GRANADA. 


misfortune.  "It  is  little,"  replied  he,  **  to  lose  a  few 
teeth  in  the  service  of  Him  who  has  given  me  all.  Our 
Lord,"  he  added,  "who  reared  this  fabric,  has  only 
opened  a  window,  in  order  to  discern  the  more  readily 
what  passes  within."  A  facetious  response,  says  Peter 
Martyr,  which  gave  uncommon  satisfaction  to  the  sov- 
ereigns.'* 

The  queen,  not  long  after,  testified  her  sense  of  the 
earl's  services  by  a  magnificent  largess,  consisting, 
among  other  things,  of  twelve  Andalusian  horses,  two 
couches  with  richly-wrought  hangings  and  coverings  of 
cloth  of  gold,  with  a  quantity  of  fine  linen,  and  sump- 
tuous pavilions  for  himself  and  suite.  The  brave  knight 
seems  to  have  been  satisfied  with  this  taste  of  the  Moor- 
ish wars ;  for  he  soon  after  returned  to  England,  and 
in  1488  passed  over  to  France,  where  his  hot  spirit 
prompted  him  to  take  part  in  the  feudal  factions  of 
that  country,  in  which  he  lost  his  life,  fighting  for  the 
duke  of  Brittany.'' 

The  pomp  with  which  the  military  movements  were 
conducted  in  these  campaigns  gave  the  scene  rather  the 
air  of  a  court  pageant  than  that  of  the  stern  array  of 
war.  The  war  was  one  which,  appealing  both  to  prin- 
ciples of  religion  and  patriotism,  was  well  calculated  to 
inflame  the  imaginations  of  the  young  Spanish  cava- 
liers ;  and  they  poured  into  the  field,  eager  to  display 
themselves  under  the  eye  of  their  illustrious  queen,  who, 
as  she  rode  through  the  ranks   mounted  on  her  war- 

38  Peter  Martyr,  Opus  Epist.,  lib.  i,  epist.  62. — Bernaldcz,  Reyes 
Cat61ico.s,  MS.,  cap.  78. 

■9  Guillaume  de  laligny,  Histoire  de  Charles  VIII.  (Paris,  1617),  pp. 
90-94. 


MILITARY  POLICY  OF   THE  SOVEREIGNS. 


491 


horse  and  clad  in  complete  mail,  afforded  no  bad  per- 
sonification of  the  genius  of  chivalry.  The  potent  and 
wealthy  barons  exhibited  in  the  camp  all  the  magnifi- 
cence of  princes.  The  pavilions,  decorated  with  various- 
colored  pennons,  and  emblazoned  with  the  armorial 
bearings  of  their  ancient  houses,  shone  with  a  splendor 
which  a  Castilian  writer  likens  to  thai  of  the  city  of 
Seville.*  They  always  appeared  surrounded  by  a  th  ong 
of  pages  in  gorgeous  liveries,  and  at  night  were  pre- 
ceded by  a  multitude  of  torches,  which  slieda  radiance 
like  that  of  day.  They  vied  with  each  other  in  the 
costliness  of  their  apparel,  equipage,  and  plate,  and  i.i 
the  variety  and  delicacy  of  the  dainties  with  wh"  '".  1  heir 
tables  were  covered. 3* 

Ferdinand  and  Isabella  saw  with  regret  this  lavish 
ostentation,  and  privately  remonstrated  with  some  of 
the  principal  grandees  on  its  evil  tendency,  especially 
in  seducing  the  inferior  and  poorer  nobility  into  ex- 
penditures beyond  their  means.  This  Sybarite  indul- 
gence, however,  does  not  seem  to  have  impaired  the 
martial  spirit  of  the  nobles.  On  all  occasions  they 
contended  with  each  other  for  the  post  of  danger. 
The  duke  del  Infantado,  the  he'^d  of  the  powerful 
house  of  Mendoza,  was  conspicuu!'-  -bove  all  for  the 
magnificence  of  his  train.  At  the  siege  of  Illora,  i486, 
he  obtained  permission  to  lead  the  storming  party.  As 
his  followers  pressed  onwards  to  the  breach,  they  were 
received  with  such  a  shower  of  missiles  as  made  them 

30  Beraaldez,  Reyes  r^t61icos,  MS.,  cap.  75. — This  city,  even  before 
the  New  World  had  poured  its  treasures  into  its  lap,  was  conspicuous 
for  its  magnificence,  as  the  ancient  proverb  testifies.  Zufiiga,  Annates 
de  Sevilla,  p.  183. 

3«  Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  cap.  41. 


493 


PFA/i   OF  GRANADA. 


falter  for  a  moment.  "What,  my  men,"  cried  he, 
"do  you  fail  me  at  this  hour?  Shall  we  be  taunted 
with  bearing  more  finery  on  our  backs  than  courage  in 
our  hearts  ?  Let  us  not,  in  God's  name,  be  laughed  at 
as  mere  holiday  soldiers !"  His  vassals,  stung  by  this 
rebuke,  rallied,  and,  penetrating  the  breach,  carried  the 
place  by  the  fury  of  their  assault. ^^ 

Notwithstanding  the  remonstrances  of  the  sovereigns 
against  this  ostentation  of  luxury,  they  were  not  want- 
ing in  the  display  of  royal  state  and  magnificence  on 
all  suitable  occasions.  The  Curate  of  Los  Palacios  has 
expatiated  with  elaborate  minuteness  on  the  circum- 
stances of  an  interview  between  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella in  the  camp  before  Moclin,  in  i486,  where  the 

3a  Pulgar,  Reyes  Catolicos,  cap.  59. — This  nobleman,  whose  name 
was  Inigo  Lopez  de  Mendoza,  was  son  of  the  first  duke,  Diego  Hur- 
tado,  who  supported  Isabella's  claims  to  the  crown.  Oviedo  was 
present  at  the  siege  of  Illora,  and  gives  a  minute  description  of  his 
appearance  there.  "  He  came,"  says  that  writer,  "  attended  by  a 
numerous  body  of  cavaliers  and  gentlemen,  as  befitted  so  great  a  lord. 
He  displayed  all  the  luxuries  which  belong  to  a  time  of  peace ;  and 
his  tables,  which  were  carefully  served,  were  loaded  with  rich  and  curi- 
ously wrought  plate,  of  which  he  had  a  greater  profusion  than  any 
other  grandee  in  the  kingdom."  In  another  place  he  says,  "  The  duke 
liligo  was  a  perfect  Alexander  for  his  liberality,  in  all  his  actions 
princely,  maintaining  unbounded  hospitality  among  his  numerous  vas- 
sals and  dependents,  and  beloved  throughout  Spain.  His  palaces  were 
garnished  with  the  most  costly  tapestries,  jewels,  and  rich  stuffs  of 
gold  and  silver.  His  chapel  was  filled  with  accomplished  singers  and 
musicians ;  his  falcons,  hounds,  and  his  whole  hunting  establishment, 
including  a  magnificent  stud  of  horses,  were  not  to  be  matched  by 
those  of  any  other  nobleman  in  the  kingdom.  Of  the  truth  of  all 
which,"  concludes  Oviedo,  "  I  myself  have  been  an  eye-witness,  and 
enough  others  can  testify,"  See  Oviedo  (Quincuagenas,  MS.,  bat.  i, 
quinc.  I,  dial.  8),  who  has  given  the  genealogy  of  the  Mendozas  and 
Mendozinos,  in  all  its  endless  ramifications. 


MILITARY  POLICY  OF  THE  SOVEREIGNS. 


493 


queen's  presence  was  solicited  for  the  purpose  of 
devising  a  plan  of  future  operations.  A  few  of  the 
particulars  may  be  transcribed,  though  at  the  hazard 
of  appearing  trivial  to  readers  who  take  little  interest 
in  such  details. 

On  the  borders  of  the  Yeguas,  the  queen  was  met  by 
an  advanced  corps,  under  the  command  of  the  mar- 
quis duke  of  Cadiz,  and,  at  the  distance  of  a  league 
and  a  half  from  Moclin,  by  the  duke  del  "Infantado, 
with  the  principal  nobility  and  their  vassals,  splendidly 
accoutred.  On  the  left  of  the  road  was  drawn  up  in 
battle-array  the  militia  of  Seville,  and  the  queen,  mak- 
ing her  obeisance  to  the  banner  of  that  illustrious  city, 
ordered  it  to  pass  to  her  right.  The  successive  bat- 
talions saluted  the  queen  as  she  advanced,  by  lowering 
their  standards,  and  the  joyous  multitude  announced 
with  tumultuous  acclamations  her  approach  to  the  con- 
quered city. 

The  queen  was  accompanied  by  her  daughter,  the 
infanta  Isabella,  and  a  courtly  train  of  damsels,  mounted 
on  mules  richly  caparisoned.  The  queen  herself  rode 
a  chestnut  mule,  seated  on  a  saddle-chair  embossed 
with  gold  and  silver.  The  housings  were  of  a  crimson 
color,  and  the  bridle  was  of  satin,  curiously  wrought 
with  letters  of  gold.  The  infanta  wore  a  skirt  cf  fine 
velvet,  over  others  of  brocade,  a  scarlet  mantilla  of  the 
Moorish  fashion,  and  a  black  hat  trimmed  with  gold 
embroidery.  The  king  rode  forward  at  the  head  of  his 
nobles  to  receive  them.  He  was  dressed  in  a  crimson 
doublet,  with  chausses,  or  breeches,  of  yellow  satin. 
Over  his  shoulders  was  thrown  a  cassock  or  mantle 
of  rich  brocade,  and  a  sopravest  of  the  same  material 


494 


WAR   OF  GRANADA. 


concealed  his  cuirass.  By  his  side,  close  girt,  he  wore 
a  Moorish  scimitar,  and  beneath  his  bonnet  his  hair 
was  confined  by  a  cap  or  head-dress  of  the  finest  stuff. 

Ferdinand  was  mounted  on  a  noble  war-horse  of  a 
bright  chestnut  color.  In  the  splendid  train  of  chivalry 
which  attended  him,  Bernaldez  dwells  with  much  satis- 
faction on  the  English  lord  Scales.  He  was  followed 
by  a  retinue  of  five  pages  arrayed  in  costly  liveries. 
He  was  sheathed  in  complete  mail,  over  which  was 
thrown  a  French  surcoat  of  dark  silk  brocade.  A 
buckler  was  attached  by  golden  clasps  to  his  arm,  and 
on  his  head  he  wore  a  white  French  hat  with  plumes. 
The  caparisons  of  his  steed  were  azure  silk,  lined 
with  violet  and  sprinkled  over  with  stars  of  gold,  and 
swept  the  ground,  as  he  managed  his  fiery  courser 
with  an  easy  horsemanship  that  excited  general  admi- 
ration. 

The  king  and  queen,  as  they  drew  near,  bowed  thrice 
with  formal  reverence  to  each  other.  The  queen  at  the 
same  time,  raising  her  hat,  remained  in  her  coif  or 
head-dress,  with  her  face  uncovered ;  Ferdinand,  riding 
up,  kissed  her  affectionately  on  the  cheek,  and  then, 
according  to  the  precise  chronicler,  bestowed  a  similar 
mark  of  tenderness  on  his  daughter  Isabella,  after  giv- 
ing her  his  paternal  benediction.  The  royal  party 
were  then  escorted  to  the  camp,  where  suitable  accom- 
modations h  d  been  provided  for  the  queen  and  her 
fair  retinue. 33 

33  Bernaldez,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  8o. — The  lively  author  of 
"A  Year  in  Spain"  describes,  among  other  suits  of  armor  still  to  be 
seen  in  the  museum  of  the  armory  at  Madrid,  those  worn  by  Ferdi- 
nand and  his  illustrious  consort :  "  In  one  of  the  most  conspicuous 
stations  is  the  suit  of  armor  usually  worn  by  Ferdinand  the  Catholic. 


MILITARY  POLICY  OF  THE  SOVEREIGNS. 


495 


It  may  readily  be  believed  that  the  sovereigns  did 
not  neglect,  in  a  war  like  the  present,  an  appeal  to  the 
religious  principle  so  deeply  seated  in  the  Spanish 
character.  All  their  public  acts  ostentatiously  pro- 
claimed the  pious  nature  of  the  work  in  which  they 
were  engaged.  They  were  attended  in  their  expe- 
ditions by  churchmen  of  the  highest  rank,  who  not 
only  mingled  in  the  councils  of  the  camp,  but,  like  the 
bold  bishop  of  Jaen,  or  the  grand  cardinal  Mendoza, 
buckled  on  harness  over  rochet  and  hood,  and  led  their 
squadrons  to  the  field.**  The  queen  at  Cordova  cele- 
brated the  tidings  of  every  new  success  over  the  infidel, 
by  solemn  procession  and  thanksgiving,  with  her  whole 
household,  as  well  as  the  nobility,  foreign  ambassadors, 
and  municipal  functionaries.  In  like  manner,  Ferdi- 
nand, on  the  return  from  his  campaigns,  was  received 
at  the  gates  of  the  city,  and  escorted  in  solemn  pomp 
beneath  a  rich  canopy  of  state  to  the  cathedral  church, 
where  he  prostrated  himself  in  graieful  adoration  of  the 
Lord  of  hosts.  Intelligence  of  their  triumphant  pro- 
gress in  the  war  was  constantly  transmitted  to  the  pope, 
who  returned  his  benediction,  accompanied  by  more 

He  seems  snugly  seated  upon  his  war-horse,  with  a  pair  of  red  velvet 
breeches,  after  the  manner  of  the  Moors,  with  lifted  lance  and  closed 
visor.  There  are  several  suits  of  Ferdinand  and  of  his  queen  Isabella, 
who  was  no  stranger  to  the  dangers  of  a  battle.  By  the  comparative 
heights  of  the  armor,  Isabella  would  seem  to  be  the  bigger  of  the  two, 
as  she  certainly  was  the  better."  P>  'ear  in  Spain,  by  a  Young  Amer- 
ican (Boston,  1829),  p.  116. 

34  Cardinal  Mendoza,  in  the  campaign  of  1485,  offered  the  queen  to 
raise  a  body  of  3000  horse  and  march  at  its  head  to  the  relief  of  Al- 
hama,  and  at  the  same  time  to  supply  her  with  such  sums  of  money  as 
might  be  necessary  in  the  present  exigency.  Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos, 
cap.  50. 


496 


fVA/i    OF  GRANADA. 


substantial  marks  of  favor,  in  bulls  of  crusade,  and 
taxes  on  ecclesiastical  rents.^* 

The  ceremonials  observed  on  the  occupation  of  a 
new  conquest  were  such  as  to  affect  the  heart  no  less 
than  the  imagination.  "The  royal  alferez,^*  says 
Marineo,  "raised  the  standard  of  the  Cross,  the  sign 
of  our  salvation,  on  the  summit  of  the  principal  fortress ; 
and  all  who  beheld  it  prostrated  themselves  on  their 
knees  in  silent  worship  of  the  Almighty,  while  the 
priests  chanted  the  glorious  anthem,  TeDeum  laudamus. 
The  ensign  or  pennon  of  St.  James,  the  chivalric  patron 
of  Spain,  was  then  unfolded,  and  all  invoked  his  blessed 
name.  Lastly,  was  displayed  the  banner  of  the  sover- 
eigns, emblazoned  with  the  royal  arms;  at  which  the 
whole  army  shouted  forth,  as  if  with  one  voice,  *  Cas- 
tile, Castile !'  After  these  solemnities,  a  bishop  led 
the  way  to  the  principal  mosque,  which,  after  the  rites 
of  purification,  he  consecrated  to  the  service  of  the  true 
faith." 

The  standard  of  the  Cross  above  referred  to  was  of 
massive  silver,  and  was  a  present  from  Pope  Sixtus  the 
Fourth  to  Ferdinand,  in  whose  tent  it  was  always  car- 
ried throughout  these  campaigns.  An  ample  supply 
of  bells,  vases,  missals,  plate,  and  other  sacred  furni- 
ture, was  also  borne  along  with  the  camp,  being  pro- 
vided by  the  queen  for  the  purified  mosques.^* 

The  most  touching  part  of  the  incidents  usually 
occurring  at  the  surrender  of  a  Moorish  city  vvas  the 

35  In  i486  we  find  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  performing  a  pilgrimage 
to  the  shrine  of  St.  James  of  Compostella.  Carbajal,  Anales,  MS., 
ano  86. 

36  L.  Marineo,  Cosas  memorables,  fol.  173. — Bemaldez,  Reyes  Ca- 
t61icos,  MS.,  cap.  82,  87. 


MILITARY  POLICY  OF  THE  SOVEREIGNS. 


497 


liberation  of  the  Christian  captives  immured  in  its 
dungeons.  On  the  capture  of  Ronda,  in  1485,  more 
than  four  hundred  of  these  unfortunate  persons,  several 
of  them  cavaliers  of  rank,  some  of  whom  had  been 
taKt.  in  the  fatal  expedition  of  the  Axarquia,  were 
restoi  \  to  the  light  of  heaven.  On  being  brought 
before  Ferdinand,  they  prostrated  themselves  on  the 
ground,  bathing  his  feet  with  tears,  while  their  wan 
and  wasted  figures,  their  dishevelled  locks,  their  beards 
reaching  down  to  their  girdles,  and  their  limbs  loaded 
with  heavy  manacles,  brought  tears  into  the  eye  of  every 
spectator.  They  were  then  commanded  to  present 
themselves  before  the  queen  at  Cordova,  who  liberally 
relieved  their  necessities,  and,  after  the  celebration  of 
public  thanksgiving,  caused  them  to  be  conveyed  to 
their  own  homes.  The  fetters  of  the  liberated  cap- 
tives were  suspended  in  the  churches,  where  they  con- 
tinued to  be  revered  by  succeeding  generations  as  the 
trophies  of  Christian  warfare,  s' 

Ever  since  the  victory  of  Lucena,  the  sovereigns  had 
made  it  a  capital  point  of  their  policy  to  foment  the 
dissensions  of  their  enemies.  The  young  king  Abdal- 
lah,  after  his  humiliating  treaty  with  Ferdinand,  lost 
whatever  consideration  he  had  previously  possessed. 
Although  the  sultana  Zoraya,  by  her  personal  address, 
and  the  lavish  distribution  of  the  royal  treasures,  con- 
trived to  maintain  a  faction  for  her  son,  the  better 
classes  of  his  countrymen  despised  him  as  a  renegade 
and  a  vassal  of  the  Christian  king.  As  their  old 
monarch  had  become   incompetent,   from   increasing 

37  Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat61icos,  cap.  47. — Bernaldez,  Reyes  Catolicos,- 
MS.,  cap.  75. 
Vol.  1. — 32 


498 


IVAJi   OF  GRANADA. 


age  and  blindness,  to  the  duties  of  his  station  in  these 
perilous  times,  they  turned  their  eyes  on  his  brother 
Abdallah,  surnamed  El  Zagal,  or  "the  Valiant,"  who 
had  borne  so  conspicuous  a  part  in  the  rout  of  the 
Axarquia.  The  Castilians  depict  this  chief  in  the  dark- 
est colors  of  ambition  and  cruelty;  but  the  Moslem 
writers  afford  no  such  intimation,  and  his  advancement 
to  the  throne  at  that  crisis  seems  to  be  in  some  measure 
justified  by  his  eminent  talents  as  a  military  leader. 

On  his  way  to  Granada,  he  encountered  and  cut  to 
pieces  a  body  of  Calatrava  knights  from  Alhama,  and 
signalized  his  entrance  into  his  new  capital  by  bearing 
along  the  bloody  trophies  of  heads  dangling  from  his 
saddle-bow,  after  the  barbarous  fashion  long  practised 
in  these  wars.^^  It  was  observed  that  the  old  king  Abul 
Hacen  did  not  long  survr  •'  his  brother's  accession.* 

38  Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  torn.  iii.  cap.  37. — Cardonne, 
Hist,  de  I'Afrique  et  de  I'Espagne,  torn.  iii.  pp.  276,  281, 282. — ^Abarca, 
Reyes  de  Aragon,  torn.  ii.  fo!.  304. 

"  £1  enjaeza  el  caballo 
De  las  cabezas  de  fama," 

says  one  of  the  old  Moorish  ballads.  A  garland  of  Christian  heads 
seems  to  have  been  deemed  no  unsuitable  present  from  a  Moslem 
knight  to  his  lady-love.    Thus  one  of  the  Zegris  triumphantly  asks, 

"  i  Que  Cristianos  habeis  tnuerto, 
O  escalade  que  murallas? 
I O  que  cabezas  famosas 
Aveis  presentado  a  damas  ?" 

This  sort  of  trophy  was  also  borne  by  the  Christian  cavaliers.  Exam- 
ples of  this  may  be  found  even  as  late  as  the  siege  of  Granada.  See, 
among  others,  the  ballad  beginning 

"  A  vista  de  los  dos  Reyes." 

39  The  Arabic  historian  alludes  to  the  vulgar  report  of  the  old  king's 


MILITARY  POLICY  OF  THE  SOVEREIGNS. 


499 


The  young  king  Abdallah  sought  the  protection  of  the 
Castilian  sovereigns  in  Seville,  who,  true  to  their  policy, 
sent  him  back  into  his  own  dominions  with  the  means 
of  making  headway  against  his  rival.  The  alfakis  and 
other  consiaerable  persons  of  Granada,  scandalized  at 
these  fatal  feuds,  effected  a  reconciliation  on  the  basis 
of  a  division  of  the  kingdom  between  the  parties.  But 
wounds  so  deep  could  not  be  permanently  healed.  The 
site  of  the  Moorish  capital  was  most  propitious  to  the 
purposes  of  faction.  It  covered  two  swelling  eminences, 
divided  from  each  other  by  the  deep  waters  of  the 
Darro.  The  two  factions  possessed  themselves  respect- 
ively of  these  opposite  quarters.  Abdallah  was  not 
ashamed  to  strengthen  himself  by  the  aid  of  Christian 
mercenaries;  and  a  dreadful  conflict  was  carried  on 
for  fifty  days  and  nights  within  the  city,  which  swam 
with  the  blood  that  should  have  been  shed  only  in  its 
defence.*" 

assassination  by  his  brother,  but  leaves  us  in  the  dark  in  regard  to  his 
own  opinion  of  its  credibility :  "  Algunos  dicen  que  le  procuro  la  muerte 
su  hermano  el  Rey  Zagal ;  pero  Dios  lo  sabe,  que  es  el  unico  eterno  e 
inmutable." — Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  torn.  iii.  cap.  38. 

40  Conde,  Dominacion  de  los  Arabes,  torn.  iii.  cap.  38. — Cardonne, 
Hist,  de  I'Afrique  et  de  I'Espagne,  pp.  291,  292. — Mariana,  Hist,  de 
EspaRa,  lib.  25,  cap.  9. — Mannol,  Rebelion  da  loi  Moriscos,  lib.  i, 
cap.  12. 

"  Muy  revuelta  anda  Granada 

en  arjii.'.s  y  fuego  ardiendo, 

y  los  ciiidadanos  de  ella 

duras  muertes  padeciendo ; 
Por  tres  reyes  que  hay  esquivos, 

cada  uiio  pretendiendo 

el  mando,  cetro  y  corona 

de  Gran^a  y  su  gobierno,"  etc. 

See  this  old  rotnance,  mixing  up  fact  and  fiction,  with  more  of  the 
former  than  usual,  in  Hita,  Guerras  de  tiranada,  tom.  i.  p.  292. 


Soo 


fVA/l   OF  GRANADA. 


Notwithstanding  these  auxiliary  circumstances,  the 
progress  of  the  Christians  was  comparatively  slow. 
Every  cliff  seemed  to  be  crowned  with  a  fortress ;  and 
every  fortress  was  defended  with  the  desperation  of  men 
willing  to  bury  themselves  under  its  ruins.  The  old 
men,  women,  and  children,  on  occasion  of  a  siege, 
were  frequently  despatched  to  Granada.  Such  was  the 
resolution,  or  rather  ferocity,  of  the  Moors,  that  Malaga 
closed  'ts  gates  against  the  fugitives  from  Alora,  after 
its  surrender,  and  even  massacred  some  of  them  in  cold 
blood.  The  eagle  eye  of  El  Zagal  seemed  to  take  in 
at  a  glance  the  whole  extent  of  his  little  territory,  and 
to  detect  every  vulnerable  point  in  his  antagonist, 
whom  he  encountered  where  he  least  expected  it, 
cutting  off  his  convoys,  surprising  his  foraging  parties, 
and  retaliating  by  a  devastating  inroad  on  the  borders.** 

No  effectual  and  permanent  resistance,  however, 
could  be  opposed  to  the  tremendous  enginery  of  the 
Christians.  Tower  and  town  fell  before  it.  Besides 
the  principal  towns  of  Cartama,  Coin,  Setenil,  Ronda, 
Marbella,  lUora,  termed  by  the  Moors  "the  right  eye," 
Moclin,  "the  shield  "of  Granada,  and  Loja,  after  a 
second  and  desperate  siege  in  the  spring  of  i486,  Ber- 
naldez  enumerates  more  than  seventy  subordinate  places 
in  the  Val  de  Cartama,  and  thirteen  others  after  the 
fall  of  Marbella.  Thus  the  Spaniards  advanced  their 
line  of  conquest  more  than  twenty  leagues  beyond  the 
western  frontier  of  Granada.     This  extensive  tract  they 


41  Among  other  achievements,  Zagal  surprised  and  beat  the  count 
of  Cabra  in  a  night  attack  upon  Moclin,  and  wellnigh  retaliated  on 
that  nobleman  his  capture  of  the  Moorish  king  Abdallah.  Pulgar, 
Reyes  Cat61icos,  cap.  48. 


MILITARY  POLICY  OF  THE  SOVEREIGNS, 


SOI 


Strongly  fortified,  and  peopled  partly  with  Christian 
subjects  and  partly  with  Moorish,  the  original  occupants 
of  the  soil,  who  were  secured  in  the  possession  of  their 
ancient  lands,  under  their  own  law.^ 

Thus  the  strong  posts  which  might  be  regarded  as 
the  exterior  defences  of  the  city  of  Granada  were  suc- 
cessively carried.  A  few  positions  alone  remained  of 
sufficient  strength  to  keep  the  enemy  at  bay.  The  most 
considerable  of  these  was  Malaga,  which  from  its  mari- 
time situation  afforded  facilities  for  a  communication 
with  the  Barbary  Moors,  that  the  vigilance  of  the  Cas- 
tilian  cruisers  could  not  entirely  intercept.  On  this 
point,  therefore,  it  was  determined  to  concentrate  all 
the  strength  of  the  monarchy,  by  sea  and  land,  in  the 
ensuing  campaign  of  1487. 

4a  Beraaldez,  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS.,  cap.  75. — Pulgar,  Reyes  Cat6- 
licos,  cap.  48. — Lebrija,  Rerum  Gestarum  Decades,  ii.  lib.  3,  cap.  5, 
7 ;  lib.  4,  cap.  2, 3. — Marmol,  Rebelion  de  los  Moriscos,  lib.  i,  cap.  12. 


Two  of  the  most  important  authorities  for  the  war  of  Granada  are 
Fernando  del  Pulgar,  and  Antonio  de  Lebrija,  or  Nebrissensis,  as  he 
is  called  from  the  Latin  Nebrissa. 

Few  particulars  have  been  preserved  respecting  the  biography  of  the 
former.  He  was  probably  a  native  of  Pulgar,  near  Toledo.  The  Cas- 
tilian  writers  recognize  certain  provincialisms  in  his  style  belonging  to 
that  district.  He  was  secretary  to  Henry  IV.,  and  was  charged  with 
various  confidential  functions  by  him.  He  seems  to  have  retained  his 
place  on  the  accession  of  Isabella,  by  whom  he  was  appointed  national 
historiographer  in  14S2,  when,  from  certain  remarks  in  his  letters,  it 
would  appear  he  was  already  advanced  in  years.  This  office,  in  the 
fifteenth  century,  comprehended,  in  addition  to  the  more  obvious  duties 
of  an  historian,  the  intimate  and  confidential  relations  of  a  private 
secretary.    "  It  was  the  business  of  the  chronicler,"  says  Bemaldez, 


5oa 


fF^i?    OF  GRANADA. 


"  to  cany  on  foreign  correspondence  in  the  service  of  his  master,  ac 
quainting  himself  with  whatever  was  passing  in  other  courts  and  coun- 
tries, and,  by  the  discreet  and  conciliatory  tenor  of  his  epistles,  to  allay 
such  feuds  as  might  arise  between  the  king  and  his  nobility,  and  estab- 
lish harmony  between  them."  From  this  period  Pulgar  remained  near 
the  royal  person,  accompanying  the  queen  in  her  various  progresses 
through  the  kingdom,  as  well  as  in  her  military  expeditions  into  the 
Moorish  territory.  He  was  consequently  an  eye-witness  of  many  of 
the  warlike  scenes  which  he  describes,  and,  from  his  situation  at  the 
court,  had  access  to  the  most  ample  and  accredited  sources  of  informa- 
tion. It  is  probable  he  did  not  survive  the  capture  of  Granada,  as  his 
history  stops  somewhat  short  of  that  event.  Pulgar's  Chronicle,  in  the 
portion  containing  a  retrospective  survey  of  events  previous  to  1483, 
may  be  charged  with  gross  inaccuracy;  but  in  all  the  subsequent 
period  it  may  be  received  as  perfectly  authentic,  and  has  all  the  air  of 
impartiality.  Every  circumstance  relating  to  the  conduct  of  the  war  is 
developed  with  equal  fulness  and  precision.  His  manner  of  narration, 
though  prolix,  is  perspicuous,  and  may  compare  favorably  with  that  of 
contemporary  writers.  His  sentiments  may  compare  till  more  advan- 
tageously, in  point  of  liberality,  with  those  of  the  Castihan  historians  of 
a  later  age. 

Pulgar  left  some  other  works,  of  which  his  commentary  on  the 
ancient  satire  of  "  Mingo  Revulgo,"  his  "  Letters,"  and  his  "  Claros 
Varones,"  or  sketches  of  illustrious  men,  have  alone  been  published. 
The  last  contains  notices  of  the  most  distinguished  individuals  of  the 
court  of  Henry  IV.,  which,  although  too  indiscriminately  encomiastic, 
are  valuable  subsidiaries  to  an  accurate  acquaintance  with  the  promi- 
nent actors  of  the  period.  The  last  and  most  elegant  edition  of  Pul- 
gar's Chronicle  was  published  at  \'alencia  in  1780,  from  the  press  of 
Benito  Montfort,  in  large  folio. 

Antonio  de  Lebrija  was  one  of  the  most  active  and  erudite  scholars 
of  this  period.  He  was  born  in  the  province  of  Andalusia,  in  1444. 
After  the  usual  discipline  at  Salamanca,  he  went  at  the  age  of  nineteen 
to  Italy,  where  he  completed  his  education  in  the  university  of  Bologna. 
He  returned  to  Spain  ten  years  after,  richly  stored  with  classical  learn- 
ing and  the  liberal  arts  that  were  then  taught  in  the  flourishing  schools 
of  Italy.  He  lost  no  time  in  dispensing  to  his  countrymen  his  various 
acquisitions.  He  was  appointed  to  the  two  chairs  of  grammar  and 
poetry  (a  thing  unprecedented)  in  the  university  of  Salamanca,  and 
lectured  at  the  same  time  in  these  distinct  departments.     He  was  sub- 


MILITARY  POLICY  OF  THE  SOVEREIGNS. 


503 


sequently  preferred  by  Cardinal  Ximenes  to  a  professorship  in  his  uni- 
versity of  Alcald  de  Henares,  where  his  services  were  liberally  requited, 
and  where  he  enjoyed  the  entire  confidence  of  his  distinguished  patron, 
who  consulted  him  on  all  matters  affecting  the  interests  of  the  institu- 
tion. Here  he  continued,  delivering  his  lectures  and  expounding  the 
ancient  classics  to  crowded  audiences,  to  the  advanced  age  of  seventy- 
eight,  when  he  was  carried  off  by  an  attack  of  apoplexy. 

Lebrija,  besides  his  oral  tuition,  composed  works  on  a  great  variety 
of  subjects,  philological,  historical,  theological,  etc.  His  emendation 
of  the  sacred  text  was  visited  with  the  censure  of  the  Inquisition,  a 
circumstance  which  will  not  operate  to  his  prejudice  with  posterity. 
Lebrija  was  far  from  being  circumscribed  by  the  narrow  sentiments  of 
his  age.  He  was  warmed  with  a  generous  enthusiasm  for  letters,  which 
kindled  a  corresponding  flame  in  the  bosoms  of  his  disciples,  among 
whom  may  be  reckoned  some  of  the  brightest  names  in  the  literary 
annals  of  the  period.  His  instruction  effected  for  classical  literature 
in  Spain  what  the  labors  of  the  great  Italian  scholars  of  the  fifteenth 
century  did  for  it  in  their  country  ;  and  lie  was  rewarded  with  the  sub- 
stantial gratitude  of  his  own  age,  and  such  empty  honors  as  could  be 
rendered  by  posterity.  For  very  many  years,  the  anniversary  of  his 
death  was  commemorated  by  public  services,  and  a  funeral  panegyric, 
in  the  university  of  Alcald. 

The  circumstances  attending  the  composition  of  his  Latin  Chronicle, 
so  often  quoted  in  this  history,  are  very  curious.  Carbajal  says  that 
he  delivered  Pulgar's  Chronicle,  after  that  writer's  death,  into  Lebrija's 
hands  for  the  purpose  of  being  translated  into  Latin.  The  latter  pro- 
ceeded in  his  task  as  far  as  the  year  i486.  His  history,  however,  can 
scarcely  be  termed  a  translation,  since,  although  it  takes  up  the  same 
thread  of  incident,  it  is  diversified  by  many  new  ideas  and  particular 
facts.  This  unfinished  performance  was  found  among  Lebrija's  papers 
after  his  decease,  with  a  preface  containing  not  a  word  of  acknowl- 
edgment to  Pulgar,  It  was  accordingly  published  for  the  first  time,  in 
154s  (the  edition  referred  to  in  this  history),  by  his  son  Sancho,  as  an 
original  production  of  his  father.  Twenty  years  after,  the  first  edition 
of  Pulgar's  original  Chronicle  was  published  at  Valladolid,  from  the 
copy  which  belonged  to  Lebrija,  by  his  grandson  Antonio.  This  work 
appeared  also  as  Lebrija's.  Copies,  however,  of  Pulgar's  Chronicle 
were  preser\'ed  in  several  private  libraries;  and  two  years  later,  1567, 
his  just  claims  were  vindicated  by  an  edition  at  Saragossa,  inscribed 
with  his  name  as  its  author. 


504 


IVA/l   OF  GRANADA. 


Lebrija's  reputation  has  sustained  some  injury  from  this  transaction, 
though  most  undeservedly.  It  seems  probable  that  he  adopted  Pul- 
gar's  text  as  the  basis  of  his  own,  intending  to  continue  the  narrative 
to  a  later  period.  His  unfinished  manuscript  being  found  among  his 
papers  after  his  death,  without  reference  to  any  authority,  was  natu- 
rally enough  given  to  the  world  as  entirely  his  production.  It  is  more 
strange  that  Pulgar's  own  Chronicle,  subsequently  printed  as  Lebrija's, 
should  have  contained  no  allusion  to  its  real  author.  The  history, 
although  composed,  so  far  as  it  goes,  with  sufficient  elaboration  and 
pomp  of  style,  is  one  that  adds,  on  the  whole,  but  little  to  the  fame 
of  Lebrija.  It  was  at  best  but  adding  a  leaf  to  the  laurel  on  his  brow, 
and  was  certainly  not  worth  a  plagiarism. 


END   OF  VOL.    I. 


insaction, 
3tcd  Pul- 
narrative 
mong  his 
'as  natu- 
t  is  more 
L.ebrija's, 
!  history, 
ition  and 
the  fame 
lis  brow, 


